§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of non-fatal food poisoning there were in each year since 1990; and what was the source by category of the infections. [14671]
§ Mr. Horam[holding answer 7 February 19971: Information on food poisoning does not distinguish between fatal and non-fatal cases. Details of the total number of cases of food poisoning notified under the Public Health (Infectious Disease) Regulations 1988 to the Office for National Statistics up to 1994 are published in "Series MB2 Communicable Disease Statistics" and 163W copies are available in the Library. There were 82,041 cases notified in 1995, the latest provision figure for 1996 is 83,664.
I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave him on 24 January, Official Report, column 767 on the information on deaths which was derived from deaths registrations and is therefore not comparable with this information. The two sets of information come from different sources and are collected on a different basis. It is not possible to subtract the number of deaths from the number of cases to arrive at a figure for non-fatal cases.
§ Mr. PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 24 January,Official Report, column 767, if he will list the source of each fatal food poisoning outbreak for each year since 1990. [14704]
§ Mr. Horam[holding answer Friday 7 February 1997]: Information on source of infection for general outbreaks is available from 1992—the earliest date information is available—onwards and is given in the table:
General outbreaks of foodborne infectious intestinal disease where associated deaths have been reported England and Wales 1992-11996 Year Organism Food Number of Deaths 1992 Salmonella enteritidis PT4 poached eggs 1 Salmonella enteritidis PT4 trifle, vanilla slices 1 Salmonella enteritidis PT4 chicken nuggets, cheese on toast 1 Salmonella typhimurium DT I04 cooked ham 2 Salmonella enteritidis PT4 not known 3 1993 Clostridium perfringens roast turkey 1 Clostridium perfringens carrots, fish 1 Salmonella typhimurium DT104c cooked chicken, ham sandwiches 1 Salmonella enteritidis PT4 chicken chow mein 1 1995 Salmonella enteritidis PT5A sausage rolls, corned beef sandwiches 2 Salmonella enteritidis PT4 boiled eggs 1 Escherichia coli 0157 pre-cooked meats 2 Salmonella enteritidis PT4 strawberry mousse 2 Clostridium perfringens roast lamb 2 1996 Salmonella enteritidis PT4 raw shell eggs 1 Salmonella enteritidis PT4 soft boiled eggs 2 Salmonella indiana chicken breast pieces 10 Escherichia coli 0157 pork products 1 Salmonella enteritidis PT4 mayonnaise made with raw shell eggs 1 Source: Public Health Laboratory Service. Notes: 1 Provisional data. General outbreak: an outbreak affecting members of more than I private residence or residents of an institution.
Most food poisoning deaths are isolated incidents and do not occur as part of a general outbreak.
164W