Food Poisoning

HC Deb 02 April 1990 vol 170 cc424-6W

Mrs. Gorman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will identify the general locations of the food poisoning outbreaks occurring in 1989 in which the food vehicle was suspected to be mayonnaise made with fresh shell eggs.

Mr. Freeman

The three outbreaks of food poisoning in 1989 in which mayonnaise made from fresh shell eggs was suspected to be the cause occurred within the boundaries of the Trent, Oxford and Wessex health regions.

Mrs. Gorman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what criteria his Department uses to assess whether an outbreak of food poisoning has been caused by eggs;

(2) what distinction his Department draws between the phrases "associated with" and "caused by" in relation to food poisoning.

Mr. Freeman

The evidence linking eggs and salmonella infection in man is based on many different kinds of information. There is no absolute distinction between the phrases "caused by" and "associated with"; both include these different kinds of information. I also refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Honiton (Sir P. Emery) on 14 March at column 281.

Mrs. Gorman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has issued any specific guidance to caterers who use raw shell eggs for the production of mayonnaise as to how to prevent the multiplication of salmonella or other organisms.

Mr. Freeman

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave her on 9 March at column896. The Department asked chief environmental health officers to advise caterers in a letter of 2 September 1988.

Mrs. Gorman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many laboratory confirmed cases of salmonella food poisoning were reported by the communicable disease surveillance centre in the weeks ended 23 February, 2 March and 9 March; if he will show in tabular form how many were salmonella typhimurium, salmonella virchow and salmonella enteritidis; and of the enteritidis figures how many were phase type 4.

Mr. Freeman

The information is as follows:

	Week ending
	23 February	2 March	9 March
Salmonellas total	208	175	77
Salmonella typhimurium	33	48	19
Salmonella virchow	6	3	1
Salmonella enteritidis	130	88	46
Phase type 4	99	67	33

Any weekly reporting system will inevitably be subject to short-term anomalies. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave her on 9 March at columns 895–96. A local postal strike has resulted in fewer reports being received by PHLS communicable disease surveillance centre in recent weeks. This has now ended and coming weeks may therefore show spuriously high totals.

Mrs. Gorman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the food poisoning outbreak associated with coleslaw made with commercial mayonnaise at a golf club in the north-west, referred to in the memorandum submitted by the public health laboratory service to the Agriculture Committee, first report, Session 1988–89, HC 108, arose from the use of mayonnaise which had been made with pasteurised eggs.

Mr. Freeman

Coleslaw made using commercial mayonnaise was reported to the PHLS communicable disease surveillance centre as a suspected vehicle of infection in this outbreak. No further information as to the type, or manufacture, of the mayonnaise is available.

Mrs. Gorman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many Crown premises have been associated or involved with food poisoning in each of the last five years in which eggs or egg products have been identified or suspected of being vehicles of infection.

Mr. Freeman

The outbreaks formally reported to the PHLS communicable disease surveillance centre as having occurred in Crown premises in the past five years, where eggs or egg containing food were suspected vehicles of infection are as follows:

	Number
1985	0
1986	1
1987	0
1988	4
1989	2

Mrs. Gorman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many food premises and National Health Service hospitals have been prosecuted or are under consideration for prosecution under the Food Act 1981 or the Food Hygiene (General) Regulations 1970 for offences relating to outbreaks of food poisoning in which eggs or egg products were identified or suspected of being vehicles of infection.

Mr. Freeman

This information is not held centrally for commercial food premises. We are not aware of any prosecutions or proposed prosecutions against NHS hospitals in relation to food poisoning involving eggs or egg products.

Mrs. Gorman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his assessment of the balance between the incidence of food poisoning caused by eggs and by egg products.

Mr. Freeman

In the context of outbreaks, the balance between the incidence of food poisoning caused by eggs, or by egg products or egg containing foods, is overwhelmingly in the direction of egg containing foods. This is because the only egg dishes which are normally free of other components are single cooked eggs such as a boiled egg, and a boiled egg is, by its nature, unlikely to cause an outbreak, because it is normally eaten by only one person.

A study of sporadic cases of infection with S. enteritidis PT4 (BMJ 1989; 299: 771-3) has shown an association between illness and eating egg dishes lightly rather than well cooked, and with other egg products. Without such a study most cases of sporadic food poisoning cannot be linked to a particular food vehicle with any confidence. Consequently there are insufficient data in sporadic cases to assess the overall balance of risk between eggs and egg products.

Mrs. Gorman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he has any plans to ask the chief medical officer to withdraw his warning on eggs.

Mr. Freeman

The chief medical officer continues to keep under review all circumstances and evidence relevant to his current advice on the consumption of eggs.

Mr. Alex Carlile

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the risk to humans of contracting salmonella from eating cooked salmonella-infected hens; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Freeman

Birds from laying flocks which are infected with salmonella and are to be disposed of under special licence and controlled conditions will be slaughtered and sent to processing plants which use an industrial heat treatment process which achieves the temperatures necessary for the destruction of salmonella.

Providing poultry is cooked thoroughly and subsequently is handled hygienically there is minimal risk to health. I also refer the hon. and learned Member to the reply that I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Billericay (Mrs. Gorman) on 9 March at column 896.