BRITAIN should prepare for a huge outbreak of food poisoning, with an extra
30 000 cases likely over the next few weeks. The blame should not be heaped on
poor hygiene in the kitchen, but on the squalid conditions on intensive farms,
says Tim O鈥橞rien, head of research for Compassion in World Farming.
In a report published last week, O鈥橞rien warns that the unusually hot weather
this month and the overcrowded and unhygienic conditions in many factory farms
could prove a deadly combination. 鈥淚t鈥檚 no good blaming housewives and the way
they prepare food in the kitchen,鈥� he says. The time-lag between the start of
hot weather and outbreaks of poisoning indicates that the problem began in the
early stages of food production鈥攐n the farm.
鈥淔or every 1 掳C rise in average daily temperatures we see a 7 per cent
increase in the number of cases of food poisoning,鈥� says O鈥橞rien. 鈥淲hen the
temperature rises bacteria multiply everywhere鈥攐n and in poultry, in their
feed and water and in the excrement they鈥檙e forced to live in.鈥�
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Factory farms encourage the proliferation of bacteria, says O鈥橞rien. 鈥淭he
current conditions are effectively bacterial incubators, and in the hot weather
they get even worse.鈥�
Figures from the Meteorological Office for the first half of August suggest
that the temperature in England and Wales was more than 3 掳C higher than the
average for this period. In the Southeast, the figure was nearer 5 掳C above
average.
The Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) is still compiling last year鈥檚
figures but it estimates that there were around 83 000 reported cases of food
poisoning in 1996. The toll is higher in the summer months, with about 10 per
cent of the cases in August.
According to Hugh Pennington, a bacteriologist at the University of Aberdeen,
only about 1 in 30 cases is reported, which puts the real total nearer 2.5
million cases last year.
As a result of the hot weather in the first two weeks of August, England and
Wales are likely to see a 21 per cent increase鈥� 7 per cent for each 1
掳C rise鈥攐r an extra 30 000 cases, says O鈥橞rien. If the heat wave
continues the number will be higher still.
The commonest food poisoning organisms, Salmonella and
Campylobacter, which account for more than 80 per cent of cases, thrive in
warmer weather. Both organisms are common in and on poultry, and
Campylobacter is common in cattle and pigs. Around one in a thousand cases
of Salmonella poisoning is fatal. Campylobacter can sometimes
lead to arthritis and in rare cases paralysis.
Pennington points out that the effect of hot weather this spring may have
already produced an increase in cases of food poisoning. Preliminary figures
from the PHLS seem to show an upsurge of cases in June.
O鈥橞rien is concerned that the wrong people are being blamed. 鈥淭he trouble is
no one has made the link between fundamental farming practice and food poisoning
on the table,鈥� he says. Patrick Wall, head of surveillance for gastrointestinal
diseases at the PHLS, agrees: 鈥淭here is more infection in animals in extremes of
temperature. In Britain we don鈥檛 make enough allowance for the problems caused
by the heat.鈥�
The problem is preventable, says Wall. 鈥淲ith better husbandry and food
preparation we could avoid this illness. It doesn鈥檛 get as much publicity as
heart attacks and no one is pretending people are keeling over in the streets.
But the costs to the health service are huge. For every 50 people sick with
salmonella, there may be one granny who can鈥檛 have a hip replacement.鈥�