§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what information, in what form, other than purely statistical, has been published on salmonella poisoning outbreaks.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe "Communicable Disease Report" produced by the Public Health Laboratory Service communicable disease surveillance centre, and the "PHLS/SVS Udate on Salmonella Infection", produced jointly by the Public Health Laboratory Service and the State Veterinary Service, provide background information on outbreaks of human Salmonellosis. Copies of both documents are available in the Library. Information may include, in the former publication, a detailed description of the outbreak and, in the latter, the type of premises where the food was prepared and the suspect vehicle of infection. Reports of outbreaks are also published in the scientific press, particularly if there is an aspect of the outbreak or the investigation that adds to the body of medical and/or scientific knowledge or where there are food hygiene lessons to be learned.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what constraints exist on the Chief Medical Officer relating to his publication of data relating to salmonella poisoning outbreaks;
(2) how many cases of salmonella relating to eggs and egg products have been reported since 1988; and if he will publish the reports of the Chief Medical Officer on those cases in such a form as to exclude the names of individual patients.
§ Mr. SackvilleInvestigations of individual cases of human salmonellosis are not usually undertaken as in such isolated instances it is rarely possible to determine a suspect vehicle of infection. However, data on general outbreaks of human salmonellosis (where two or more persons in more than one household experience a similar illness after eating the same food and where epidemiological evidence implicates the food as the source of the illness) is published in the Public Health Laboratory Service State Veterinary Service (PHLS-SVS) "Update on Salmonella Infection". The table shows the number of general outbreaks for the period 1988 to 1991 where eggs or products containing eggs have been identified by local investigators as being the suspect vehicle of infection. The figure for 1992 has not yet been published. No additional data are available to the Chief Medical Officer.
General outbreaks of human salmonellosis where egg or products containing eggs are the suspect vehicle of infection England and Wales 1988–91 Year Number of outbreaks 1988 34 1989 41 1990 50 1991 52 Source: PHLS-SVS Update on Salmonella Infection.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she will provide information to6W technical advisers to the United Kingdom Egg Producers Association on matters relating to the effectiveness of agencies in the investigation of salmonella poisoning outbreaks.
§ Mr. SackvilleWe will consider any such request.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the numbers of reported cases of salmonella poisoning from eggs from 1988 to 1991 is in need of revision in terms of statistics or data details.
§ Mr. SackvilleEggs or products containing eggs were reported as the suspect vehicle of infection in a number of outbreaks of salmonella food poisoning between 1988 and 1991. The identification of the suspect vehicle was made by the outbreak investigators on the basis of evidence available at the time of the outbreak. This data is therefore not open to revision.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will instruct those agencies responsible for the collection of data on outbreaks of salmonella food poisoning to publish details of such incidents as soon as possible after notification and investigation.
§ Mr. SackvilleWe are considering this matter.