§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the reported outbreaks of listeria in Wales; and what further action he intends to take.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerSampling by local authority environmental health officers of patés in two south Wales districts between 11 May and 26 June 1989 showed that some samples of pate were contaminated with high counts of listeria monocytogenes. Listeria is widely distributed in the environment and some exposure to this organism is unavoidable. Only rarely does this give rise to illness and indeed at any one time as many as one in 20 people may carry this bacteria in their guts without any ill-effects.
In accordance with routine procedures advice was given, during the course of the sampling, to the supermarkets concerned by the environmental health officers about the storage and handling of paté, and arrangements were made for sampling of the implicated pate at the point of entry into the United Kingdom by the port health authorities at Dover and along the distribution networks within the United Kingdom, and the EC and Belgian authorities were alerted.
On 3 July, my Department received the results of this exercise from the public health laboratory service (PHLS). My officials had discussions with officers of the PHLS and the relevant environmental health officers and with officials of the Department of Health. Arrangements were put in hand for a nationwide survey of all types of pate on sale in the United Kingdom, and the EC and Belgian authorities were alerted.
38WIn the light of further evidence received by the Department of Health from one of the importers the public was alerted on 12 July that certain vulnerable groups should for the time being avoid eating pate.
In addition, my chief medical officer has written to all doctors in Wales advising that pate should be included in the list of foodstuffs previously notified to them on 21 February 1989 as being a potential hazard to specified vulnerable groups.