§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the source of(a) his statement on 5 December that 1,000 people had been affected by outbreaks of salmonella traced back to eggs and (b) his Department's statement on 6 December that 7,000 cases of salmonella had been so traced.
§ Mr. Kenneth Clarke[holding answer 17 February 1989]: My statement on 5 December 1988 at column 19 that
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Table A £ million Main service provision 1988–89 1989–90 main service provision Initial cash levels1 Column 1 adjusted to 1989–90 cash levels Initial cash levels1 Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Northern 735 793 832 Yorkshire 830 894 937 Trent 1,010 1,089 1,147 East Anglian 438 472 497 North West Thames 808 871 913 North East Thames 1,007 1,086 1,137 South East Thames 898 968 1,018 South West Thames 746 804 844 Wessex 615 662 699 Oxford 482 520 558 South Western 732 789 832 West Midlands 1,186 1,278 1,340 Mersey 586 631 664 North Western 1,005 1,083 1,140
up to the end of October there had been 46 reported outbreaks of salmonella food poisoning in England and Wales involving about 1,000 casesrelated to cases where the infection was directly attributable to the consumption of eggs. Over the same 10-month period there had been a total of 23,039 salmonella isolations of which 10,544 were salmonella enteritidis phage type 4, the type predominantly associated with chicken and eggs.
My Department has never made any statement on 6 December or at any other time about 7,000 cases being traced.