§ Lord Carterasked Her Majesty's Government:
What publicly-funded research is being undertaken into the incidence and effects of salmonella enteritidis; whether such research is regarded as "near market" and therefore suitable for private funding: and whether if private funding is not forthcoming, the research will cease.
§ Baroness TrumpingtonThe Government undertake an extensive programme of research into food microbiology, costing about £l million in the current financial year, which includes work on salmonella. On salmonella enteritidis, in addition to detailed investigations of all reported outbreaks of food poisoning, publicly-funded research at a number of laboratories is being undertaken on the incidence of the organism in eggs and its susceptibility to heat and acidity during food processing. Research proposals on the effects of salmonella enteritidis infection in the laying hen are currently under consideration by MAFF. All this work which is directly concerned with defining potential threats to food safety is regarded as appropriate for public funding.
A recent routine review concluded that publicly-funded preventive work at AFRC at Bristol on the manipulation of microbial flora of the gut of young chickens has been taken as far as it could usefully be taken and is now at the point of commercial application. The next key stage is commercial exploitation and a commercial company has expressed interest in taking this work further.