Record levels of food poisoning reported

Food poisoning in England and Wales is at its highest level since records began, with an increase of more than 20 per cent in the number of cases between 1991 and 1992.

Food safety experts said the increase was due to greater awareness and wider reporting of food poisoning, and not to poor hygiene. Environmental health officers say that tougher legislation means restaurants and cafes have never been cleaner.

There were 63,347 cases of food poisoning reported in 1992, according to figures released by the Office of Population, Censuses and Surveys yesterday, the highest number since records began in 1949.

Hilary King, of the Institute of Environmental Health Officers, said: 'People are much more prepared to report food poisoning than they used to be. If you report sickness to your doctor or environmental health officer it becomes notifiable and goes down on the records.' She said caterers were not becoming 'sloppy in their ways. Standards are rising, not falling.'

Other data released in Communicable Disease Statistics 1992 show an increase of 71 per cent in cases of dysentery, up from 9,935 in 1991 to 16,960 in 1992. A possible link with growing numbers of people with inadequate lavatory and washing facilities has been made by some scientists. More people travelling outside tourist areas is also a factor.

Tuberculosis cases rose by 7 per cent to 5,798 in 1992 from 5,436 in 1991. TB notifications declined until the mid-Eighties, when they began to rise. Public health officials are not sure why this is, but a spokesman for the OPCS said that the rate is still 27 per cent lower for males and 19 per cent lower for females than in 1982.

Whooping cough notifications were at their lowest level since 1972, with a 56 per cent fall between 1991 and 1992 consistent with the pattern of a peak in the disease every three to four years. Mumps cases fell by 18 per cent and rubella (German measles) by 13 per cent.

More than 20 per cent of people believe they suffer from some form of food intolerance - leading to asthma, eczema and other allergic type diseases - but the actual incidence is less than 2 per cent, according to a report in the Lancet.