§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons were prosecuted for offences arising out of food poisoning in each of the last five years for which records are available; how many of the defendants were manufacturers, shopkeepers and caterers, respectively; how many and what proportion of such prosecutions resulted in convictions; and what were the average penalties imposed.
§ Mr. Alexander W. LyonI regret that the information is not available. Our statistics do not distinguish between proceedings relating to offences arising solely from food poisoning and other proceedings under the Food and Drugs Act 1955 or under the Food Hygiene Regulations made under that Act. They are grouped, with other statistics, under classification 168 in the Criminal Statistics. Unless proceedings are brought by the police, the occupation of the defendant is not recorded by them, but in any case does not form part of the information routinely supplied to us by the police.