§ Mr. SayeedTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the annual number of deaths in(a) the United Kingdom, (b) the European Union and (c) the United States of America per 100,000 people from food poisoning in the last 12 months. [16746]
613W
§ Ms BlearsThe table sets out the annual number of reported deaths from food poisoning per 100,000 people in the year 2000 for the United Kingdom and for the United States. The United Kingdom figure is based on the annual corrected notifications of deaths attributed to food poisoning organisms reported to the Office for National Statistics in England and Wales and the General Register Offices for Scotland and for Northern Ireland.
The United States figure is based on deaths reported to the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) within the United States of America.
Figures for the European Union are not available in the form requested as the data gathering process varies between member states.
Annual number of reported deaths from food poisoning in 2000 Country Deaths per 100,000 people United Kingdom 0.05 United States 0.18 European Union Not available Notes:
The UK and USA figures are not directly comparable because of differences in the surveillance systems.
The figures for both the UK and US underestimate deaths associated with food poisoning. A larger number of deaths are categorised as infectious intestinal disease (IID) and a proportion of these will result from food poisoning. The UK figure for deaths for IID was 0.99 per 100,000 persons in 2000. Comparable figures for IID in the US are not available.
Sources:
England and Wales: Office for National Statistics (ONS)
Scotland: General Register Office Scotland (GROS)
Northern Ireland: General Register Office Northern Ireland (GRONI)
US: Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet)