Eire and Northern Ireland link up to tackle food pathogens
UK - With €173.5 million in lost earnings due to acute gastroenteritis, a new report from the Irish food agency highlights the need for a food safety system to cover the whole island of Ireland, writes Lindsey Partos.Under the umbrella of food safety operation safefood, for the first time North and South will collaborate in a formal fashion to investigate foodborne risk, says Safefood's public health chief specialist Dr Cliodhna Foley-Nolan.
"Joint surveillance, joint training and joint research will guide the collaboration," she tells FoodNavigator.com.
Ireland suffers a considerable 3.2 million cases of acute gastroenteritis (self-reported) each year, or 8,800 new cases each day.
"About 1.5 million working days are lost each year in Ireland due to acute gastroenteritis,” adds Dr Cliodhna Foley-Nolan.
The report found that Campylobacter (a bacterium primarily from poultry sources) was the single most common bacterial cause of food poisoning both north and south.
Rates for food pathogen E-coli 0157 were similar in both areas of Ireland, but much lower than Scotland and higher than England and Wales.
Source: www.foodproductiondaily.com
13 April 2005
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