HL Deb 19 March 2002 vol 632 cc134-5WA
The Countess of Mar

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many cases of food poisoning, using the definition: "any disease of an infectious or toxic nature caused by or thought to be caused by consumption of food or water", have been confirmed by laboratory tests for each of the last 10 years, excluding cases of campylobacter. [HL2868]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)

This information is not available in the form requested. There is no link between the notifications of food poisoning by medical practitioners to local public health officials and laboratory reports based on samples tested for gastrointestinal infections by public health laboratories and National Health Service laboratories. Both food poisoning notifications and laboratory confirmed infections underestimate the number of cases of illness that can be attributed to food.

There is no definitive figure for the number of cases of food poisoning. However, in setting a target to reduce food poisoning by 20 per cent by 2006, the Food Standards Agency has taken as the baseline for its target the collated laboratory reports in 2000 for five key food poisoning organisms (Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes, Escheriehia coli 0157 and Clostridium perfringens). The following table sets out the number of laboratory confirmed cases of these organisms from 1992 until 2001, both including and excluding Campylobacter.

United Kingdom laboratory confirmed cases1 of Salmonella, E coli O157, Clostridium perfringens, Listeria monocytogenes and Campylobacter from 1992 until 2001. Totals are shown both including and excluding Campylobacter.
Organism 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Salmonella (excl. S. typhi and S. paratyphi) 34,569 33,745 33,654 33,108 32,825 36,375 26,341 20,082 16,989 18,402*
E Coli O157 586 506 656 1,046 1,180 1,535 1,130 1,429 1,147 1,049*
Clostridium perfringens Data not available Data not available Data not available Data not available Data not available Data not available Data not available Data not available 181 160*
Listeria monocytogenes 127 114 129 105 131 134 127 114 113 153
Totals 35,282 34,365 34,439 34,259 34,136 38,044 27,598 21,625 18,430 19,764*
Campylobacter 43,886 43,776 49,000 48,642 49,670 57,100 63,837 62,550 63,370 62,747*
Totals including Campylobacter 79,168 78,141 83,439 82,901 83,806 95,144 91,435 84,175 81,800 84,511*
1 Also includes cases thought to have been acquired abroad. These are excluded from the baseline for the Food Standards Agency target.
Sources:
England and Wales—Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS).
Scotland—the Information and Statistics Division (ISD) and the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health (SCIEH) divisions of the Common Services Agency of the National Health Service in Scotland.
Northern Ireland—Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety Northern Ireland (DHSSPS).
Data for 2000 updated February 2002.
*Provisional data for 2001.