What we know
What information do we have about the Eastern Board area?
What is the result of this on our health locally?
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What is happening in the Eastern Board area?

Food-borne illness (sometimes called food poisoning) can result in the acute onset of symptoms, predominantly vomiting and/or diarrhoea. The causal agents which are responsible for food-borne illness can be bacterial, viral, parasitic and, relatively infrequently, other substances (for example, chemicals, mushroom and shellfish toxins).

‘Food poisoning’ is a generic term widely used to classify organisms that may or may not cause the contamination of food. This classification is often applied in circumstances where someone suffers gastrointestinal illness – resulting in diarrhoea, stomach cramps or sickness – and for which no obvious source can be confirmed. The Eastern Board is currently reviewing the classification of the diseases included under food poisoning.

It is important that people maintain good personal hygiene when preparing meals to reduce the risk of food poisoning. Fundamentally, people should ensure that their hands are washed both before and after preparing food and particularly if handling raw meat, poultry or fish.

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There are a number of different sources of information about food poisoning including laboratory reports, notifications from doctors and reports to Environmental Health. The annual figures always contain a proportion of people who contracted their illness on holiday or overseas.

The 2003 Summary of the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre Northern Ireland (available from www.cdscni.org.uk) reports that notifications of food poisoning in Northern Ireland increased steadily from 1991 to 2000. Over the next two years they fell by almost half, but started to rise again in 2003 and 2004. There were 1409 notifications in 2005.

The Centre for Communicable Disease Control Northern Ireland (CDSC (NI)) report over 50% increase in Salmonella in 2004 compared to 2003, despite no reported outbreaks. These figures went down again in 2005 to 180.

During 2005, the Eastern Board received notification of 408 cases of food poisoning, 44 of suspected food poisoning and 28 of cryptosporidiosis.

When outbreaks of food poisoning occur Outbreak Control Teams are established with members drawn from Public Health, Environmental Health and Microbiology to investigate and manage the outbreak. During 2004, two major outbreaks were investigated which were caused by Salmonella. One was related to the consumption of mayonnaise from a fast food outlet in Downpatrick and one was part of a wider investigation with the rest of the UK which demonstrated a link to the consumption of salads.

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There are a number of different types of causal agents that are responsible for food poisoning and include:

	Salmonella infections
	Clostridium Botulinum infections
	Staphylococcus Aureus infections
	Bacillus Cereus infections
	Clostridium Perfringens infections
	Yersinia infections
	Cryptosporidiosis
	Escherichia Coli (E. coli) infections
	Listeriosis
	Non-bacterial toxins

Some of the most common sources of food poisoning include:

	Poor personal hygiene – failure to wash hands;
	Undercooking of meat or poultry, particularly chicken;
	Failure to adequately wash or remove skin from fruit;
	Handling or preparing food after contact with animals;
	Transfer of infection from people to food – where someone already carrying an infection prepares food for consumption by others.

A major reduction in the occurrence of food poisoning could be achieved if well-established measures were rigorously applied. In practice this means enforcing safeguards and taking preventative action at all points in the food chain from the rearing of animals that are to be consumed by humans, to the process of food production, storage and distribution, its points of sale and preparation for eating.

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