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