§ Mr. GillTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of sickness resulting from the consumption of fresh meat emanating from British abattoirs were recorded in 1999. [126189]
§ Ms StuartMost cases of infectious intestinal disease are not part of recognised outbreaks (i.e. they are sporadic cases). It is very difficult to obtain scientific information implicating a specific food as the cause of infection for these sporadic cases and, as such, it is not possible to provide data on specific foods associated with sporadic infection.
However, meat and meat products are an important vehicle of foodborne illness. There was at least one large outbreak in 1999 which was attributable to meat from a British abattoir.