HC Deb 08 March 1990 vol 168 cc817-8W
82. Mr. Wigley

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of food poisoning were recorded in England in each year from 1984 to 1989.

Mr. Freeman

The information requested is given in the table:

Food poisoning
Year OPCS formally notified OPCS otherwise ascertained Totals
1984 13,247 7,455 20,702
1985 13,143 6,099 19,242
1986 16,502 7,446 23,948
1987 20,363 8,968 29,331
1988 27,826 11,887 39,713
1989 39,125 15,588 54,713
1 Provisional.

The OPCS collates notifications of food poisoning and publishes them weekly for England and Wales. The statutory notifications of food poisoning sent to OPCS are based on clinical diagnosis or suspicion of food poisoning—clinical specimens for laboratory investigation may not have been taken.

Reasons for the increase in 1989 are unclear, but may be explained in part by the unusually long warm summer and in part by greater interest in identifying and reporting infections consequent upon considerable professional and public attention to food safety issues.

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