Egg industry is refused access to salmonella files

THE EGG industry, which is regularly blamed for outbreaks of salmonella food-poisoning, has been refused access to the evidence, and even the names of local authorities which report cases to the Public Health Laboratory Service.

At the end of a year-long correspondence with ministers and officials, in which the technical adviser to the United Kingdom Egg Producers' Association sought the evidence for allegations that eggs were at fault, Whitehall has ruled that the information has to remain confidential.

Richard North, the industry's adviser, wrote in January last year to William Waldegrave, the minister responsible for open government, to say that of 177 cases blamed on eggs between 1988-91, he had been able to track down details of only 44. He asked the minister to ensure the investigation reports were published.

He complained to the Department of Health in February that it was a matter of constant irritation for the industry that while figures of suspected egg-associated outbreaks were published, the supporting evidence was not being made available.

The Department of Health replied in March stating that it only published accounts of 'unusual' outbreaks, adding: 'The reporting systems are voluntary and rest upon the confidence of those supplying the information. Were they to feel this information was used for purposes other than routine surveillance, the integrity of the systems would be compromised and the continued supply of information jeopardised.'

Mr North replied that all outbreaks were unusual, and added: 'It is nothing short of obscene, in the context of the continued trauma caused to egg producers, that public authorities which continue to report outbreaks of food- poisoning in which the suspected vehicles of infection are claimed to be eggs, or foods made with eggs, are not required to support their suspicions with evidence.'

In May and June, Mr North tried another tack, asking both Mr Waldegrave and Virginia Bottomley, the Secretary of State for Health, for a list of the local authorities that had reported outbreaks between 1988 and 1991.

But he was told by Baroness Cumberlege, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health, in July: 'Local authorities report food poisoning outbreaks on a voluntary basis and in confidence. For this reason I cannot provide the names of those authorities which have submitted such reports.'

The backbench Right to Know Bill on open government will debated in the Commons tomorrow.