PROGRESS REPORT: FOOD SAFETY

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PROGRESS REPORT FOOD SAFETY

• Dr Andrew Wadge
• Director of Food Safety

2
Public Health Impact

• In 2006 between 500 and 600 people died as a
  direct result of something they ate mostly due
  to food poisoning

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Economic Impact - Costs
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Economic Impact - Savings
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Risk Matrix relative risk of pathogens, 2005
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Geographical Differences in Major Pathogens
within UK
Rates of cases (per 1,000,000 of population) -
2005
Statistically significant difference between
countries indicated by differing colours
Source HPA HPS data analysed in work for FBD
risk matrix (FSA)
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Within-year trends for cases of Campylobacter
England Wales
data from 1992-2006
Source HPA
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Late-spring increase in Campylobacter

• Sharp increase in cases mid-May, peak in June
• Not caused solely by increasing temperature
• Possible reasons
• Bird-pecked milk
• Barbequed food
• Flies hatching

Supporting evidence in Campylobacter Sentinel
Surveillance Scheme 2000-2003.
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Birthdays increase your risk of Campylobacter!
25 higher instance of Campylobacter around
birthday ( 1 week )
Source Campylobacter Sentinel Surveillance
Scheme 2000-3
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Carcass and Meat Pathogen Levels

• Salmonella
• Carcasses samples testing ve (1999 ? 2003)
  Cattle? Sheep? Pig?
• Level in retail chickens ?
• Level in UK Eggs ? (1995/6 ? 2003)
• Campylobacter
• Carcasses samples testing ve (1999 ? 2003)
  Cattle? Sheep? Pig?
• Level in retail chickens ?
• Pathogen levels in the Slaughterhouse
• On carcasses (2002 ? 2005) Cattle? Sheep? Pig?
• On environmental surfaces ? (2002 ? 2005)

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Estimated impact by food group of indigenous food
borne disease top 7 foods (1996 2000)
Complex foods dishes consisting of ingredients
of various food types in which the precise source
of infection was not verified. They tend to
contain chicken or eggs and consequently follow a
similar pattern to these food types.
Source Adak et al. (2005) Emerging Infectious
Diseases 11 (3), 365-372.
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Summary Life Style Choices
Conclusion In general, lifestyle choices have a
higher risk of food borne disease associated with
them (over the time period of the Food borne
Disease Strategy)
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Impact of Interventions

• Progress -
• 19.2 cut in food-borne diseases 2000-05
• 1.5 million cases
• 38,000 hospital bed days
• 750m to society as a whole
• How -
• Reduce contamination of meat and eggs in the food
  supply chain
• on-farm
• in slaughterhouses
• in retail and distribution
• in the home
• Action taken by industry has reduced the level of
  Salmonella contamination of chicken from 37 in
  1993/94 to less than 6 in 2001
• An estimated 70 of chickens sold are
  contaminated with
  Campylobacter

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Historical Future Drivers

• Changing Population
• People living longer
• Immigration
• Personal Affluence
• Alters diet
• Warmer houses in winter, cooler in summer
• Travel
• Overseas
• To the supermarket bringing home frozen foods
• Lifestyle
• Time available for preparation
• Choices

Source Institute of Grocery Distribution
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Historical Future Drivers

• Globalisation
• International sourcing of foods
• Large-scale operations
• Consolidation and centralisation of food
  production
• Increased automation of food production
• Product formulation
• Changes in levels of preservatives, etc.
• Drive to reduce salt (FSA)
• EU Hygiene Legislation

Source Institute of Grocery Distribution
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Potential Future Drivers

• Technology
• Genetic modification
• Sensors ensure correct storage/ heating
• New packing materials
• Household stock management use of Artificial
  Intelligence
• Cooking instructions fed into microwave directly
• Sustainability
• drive to reduce waste gt thinner packaging
  materials
• drive to use left-overs, use up all food

Source Institute of Grocery Distribution
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Climate Change

• 2.5-3ºC increase in UK mean temperature by 2100
• Increased temperature could lead to
• more rapid multiplication of micro-organisms
  throughout the food chain
• change in diet
• more barbecues
• Regression analysis indicates a 1ºC temp. rise
  would increase
• all food borne disease by 5 (Bentham, 1997)
• Salmonella in the UK by 12 (Kovats et al.,
  2004)
• More extreme weather events

Source Health Effects of Climate Change in the
UK (2007) Dept. Health and HPA