The UK Food Standards Agency's (FSA's) 'Survey of Consumer Attitudes to Food', released today, claims that '14 percent of UK respondents have had at least one case of food poisoning over the last year but only 20 percent of sufferers reported it'. (1)
| Noting that 'incidences of food poisoning seem to be much larger than official figures would suggest', the FSA draws the conclusion that 'as many as five million people in the UK may have had some kind of food poisoning in the last year': a statistic unlikely to enhance your appetite as you delve into the contents of your lunchtime sandwich.
| But should this survey's findings really be enough to put us off our food?
| Food poisoning has been a recurring subject in alarmist press coverage ever since the late 1980s, when then Tory health minister Edwina Currie's infamous pronouncements on salmonella-infected eggs sparked a nationwide panic. The official statistics seem to show that there is, indeed, cause for concern, by showing a six-fold increase in cases of food poisoning from 14,253 in 1982 to 86,316 in 1999. But these striking figures require closer examination.
| The total official figure is the aggregate of two statistics: 'formally notified' and 'otherwise ascertained'. The formally notified figures are based on doctors in clinical practice notifying the 'proper officer' of the local authority about cases, or suspected cases, of certain infectious diseases and food poisoning. Between 1982 and 1999 these increased from 9964 to 48,454 (just below a five-fold increase) (2).
| 'Otherwise ascertained' refers to cases ascertained by local authorities in other ways: for example, 'cases may be discovered during investigations of outbreaks, as a result of complaints by members of the public, or when microbiologists notify after laboratory identifications have been made' (3). 'Otherwise ascertained' food poisonings have risen at nearly twice the rate of those 'formally notified' - from 4289 in 1982 to 37,862 in 1999 (4).
| What has caused these surprising increases? One problem with interpreting the official statistics is that nobody seems to be precisely clear.
| That people eat out increasingly often, and that ready-cooked meals are increasingly consumed, are often cited as possible contributory factors. Less frequently discussed, however, is the possibility that increased awareness and concern about food poisoning has contributed to a higher level of reporting.
| Some healthcare professionals acknowledge that, in the past, there has been confusion about which cases should be reported. In 1992, the definition of food poisoning circulated to all doctors was 'any disease of an infectious or toxic nature caused by or thought to be caused by the consumption of food or water'. Writing in the 'Communicable Disease Report Review' in June 1996, PG Wall et al claimed that the absolute increase in food poisoning cases could 'possibly be due in part to greater awareness among doctors following circulation of the definition'. (5)
| If doctors have a greater awareness of food poisoning than in the past, so do the public. The FSA claims that the vast majority of people are 'very' or 'fairly' concerned about food poisoning: indicating that we are probably more likely to complain of suspected food poisoning to doctors, or to environmental health officers investigating a possible outbreak, than people would have been in previous years.
| Whatever the official statistics may represent, more alarming are the unofficial statistics highlighted in the FSA's press release, which imply that known cases of food poisoning may only be the tip of the iceberg, and that 'as many as five million people in the UK may have had some kind of food poisoning in the last year'. But while nobody enjoys an upset tummy, it seems hard to believe that up to five million people are suffering any serious harm when 4.95 million have not even paid a visit to the doctor. Of course outbreaks of serious infectious diseases resulting from food poisoning need to be taken seriously, but the majority of cases are nothing that a bit of extra time in the bathroom cannot sort out.
| The FSA explains public concern over food safety as a reflection of 'two decades of food crises', and believes its survey 'confirms the need for an independent food body to reassure consumers on food safety and standards'. But if this latest press work on food poisoning is anything to go by, such 'reassurance' seems unlikely to assuage consumer fears. It seems more like a scare story in the making.
| Despite the public's widespread and high levels of concern about food safety, 90 percent of us still eat fresh meat on a regular basis (only five percent of households include a vegetarian), and two thirds of us visit takeaways or fast-food outlets on an occasional or regular basis. If, as the FSA's survey suggests, the nation has bought into the questionable idea that food is more dangerous than in the past, it would seem that we want to have our kebab and eat it.
| Tony Gilland is science and society director at the Institute of Ideas. He is the editor of Science: Can You Trust the Experts?, Hodder Murray, 2002 (buy this book from Amazon (UK) or Amazon (USA)); Animal Experimentation: Good or Bad?, Hodder Murray, 2002 (buy this book from Amazon (UK) or Amazon (USA)); and Nature's Revenge?: Hurricanes, Floods and Climate Change, Hodder Murray, 2002 (buy this book from Amazon (UK) or Amazon (USA)). He is also a contributor to Rethinking Risk and the Precautionary Principle, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000 (buy this book from Amazon (UK) or Amazon (USA)).
Read on:
Food Scares Agency by Jan Bowman
(1) See the FSA press release, 5 Februrary 2001, 'Agency Probes Nation on Attitude to Food'.
(2) Food Poisoning Data, Annual Corrected Notifications 1982-1999, Public Health Laboratory Service
(3) 'Food poisoning: notifications, laboratory reports, and outbreaks - where do the statistics come from and what do they mean?', by PG Wall, J de Louvois, RJ Gilbert, B Rowe in the Communicable Disease Report Review (June 1996).
(4) Food Poisoning Data, Annual Corrected Notifications 1982-1999, Public Health Laboratory Service
(5) 'Food poisoning: notifications, laboratory reports, and outbreaks - where do the statistics come from and what do they mean?', by PG Wall, J de Louvois, RJ Gilbert, B Rowe in the Communicable Disease Report Review (June 1996).
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