§ Mr. ColvinTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will break down the figures for food poisoning according to numbers and types of cases associted with(a) fish, (b) meat, (c) vegetables, (d) eggs and (e) other foods.
§ Mr. Kenneth Clarke[holding answer 14 February 1989]: A suspected food is identified in only a small proportion of reported outbreaks. The following table gives details of outbreaks of food poisoning reported to the public health laboratory service in 1987, where a suspected vehicle of infection and causative agent has been indentified.
difference in the numbers reported. However in 1988 the public health laboratory service received reports of 60 outbreaks of food poisoning, involving about 1,600 people, associated with the consumption of eggs.
425W
§ Mr.ColvinTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of food poisoning from salmonella enteritidis have been reported over the past 12 months, broken down by the general circumstances of kitchen hygiene, catering or domestic.
§ Mr. Kenneth Clarke[holding answer 14 February 1989]: Reports of food poisoning cases are not routinely broken down by general circumstances of kitchen hygiene. Reports of outbreaks give information on such contributory factors. Salmonella enteritidis phage type 4 is associated predominantly with chicken and eggs. The number of reported food poisoning outbreaks linked with eggs, but not with chicken, showed a marked increase in 1988. Information suggests that while inadequate kitchen hygiene may have been a contributory factor in some of these outbreaks it cannot account for the marked increase in the total number of egg-associated salmonellosis reported in 1988.