§ Mr. CryerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish the number of egg-associated food poisoning outbreaks during 1991, listing all the local authorities who have reported such outbreaks to the communicable disease surveillance centre; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe bulk of egg-associated food poisoning outbreaks reported are caused by salmonellas. Outbreaks of human salmonellosis reported to the Public Health Laboratory Service's (PHLS) communicable disease surveillance centre, together with information on suspect foods, are routinely published in the PHLS-SVS 415W update on salmonella infection. The total number of outbreaks reported in 1991 was 57. Reports of outbreaks are voluntary and are made in confidence to the PHLS. Publication of reports broken down by local authority could damage the continued co-operation of local investigators in providing information relating to outbreaks, which is important for national infectious disease control.
The table gives the information by regional health authority.
Family and general outbreaks of salmonella in which eggs or foods containing eggs were reported as the suspect food England and Wales 1991 Region Number of reports Northern 4 Yorkshire 5 Trent 6 East Anglia 3 North West Thames 4 North East Thames 2 South East Thames 6 South West Thames 8 Wessex 8 Oxford 1 South Western 2 West Midlands 3 Mersey 0 North Western 2 Wales 2 TOTAL 157 1 Includes one outbreak reported from the Wessex/Oxford/South Western regional health authority. Notes:
- 1. Data provided by the PHLS communicable disease surveillance centre.
- 2. An outbreak represents two or more related laboratory confirmed salmonella infections in humans of whom at least one was ill.
- 3. Suspect foods are those reported to communicable disease surveillance centre as such.
- 4. The total of 57 reports in 1991 includes five not reported in time for inclusion in the January 1992 PHLS-SVS update.