IntroductionThere are many problems associated with the use of animals and animal products for human consumption. The increase in human population has led to an increasing demand for meat and other animal products. This has fundamentally changed the way we breed and raise animals over the past 50 years. With the increase in scale and intensity of livestock farming, animal density is remarkably higher. This has led to many problems related to animal breeding. In particular, animal diseases are transmitted more easily and their economic impact is greater. Examples include food and mouth disease, classical swine fever, Newcastle disease, porcine vascular disease, and Q fever (Warenautoriteit 2014). Many of these diseases also carry a risk of transmission to humans and can cause serious health problems. The occurrence of such diseases can lead to significant economic losses, both in the form of loss of production due to large-scale extermination of infected animals, and through cost associated with adverse effects on human health . There is therefore great interest in finding solutions to these problems. One such solution has been the use of antibiotics in farm animals. Although this has reduced the risk of certain diseases, over the years of use it has led to the emergence of many antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, which alone pose a great risk to human health. With the advent of genetic engineering technologies, it has become possible to create new livestock animals that are less susceptible to certain diseases or likely not to transmit such diseases to humans (Houdebine 2009; Laible 2009). But genetic engineering allows us to do much more; this allows us to choose desirable characteristics or introduce new characteristics previously... middle of article...... introduced into the human diet, this will likely face strong opposition from groups of consumers who oppose the introduction. Certainly in countries like Britain, where the government and the beef industry have already suffered a major credibility blow in handling the BSE crisis. There is also the way in which the British government appeared to push for the introduction of genetically modified crops in the 1990s and the subsequent mishandling of the Pusztai affair (Korthals 2002). Therefore, genetically modified beef should not be forced on consumers and should only be made available when there is a significant risk of catching CJD from consuming normal beef. Only then may certain consumer groups find genetically modified beef acceptable and others may even require it. But it is more likely that in the event of another BSE outbreak, consumers will completely lose confidence in the beef industry and turn away from beef..