Day 081 - 31 Jan 95 - Page 28


     
     1        A.  Perhaps, yes.
     2
     3   Q.   With salmonella food poisoning incidents, are meat products
     4        frequently identified as the vehicle, the main vehicle?
     5        A.  They are often the vehicle, yes.
     6
     7   Q.   In the majority of cases?
     8        A.  I would think.
     9
    10   Q.   You think so?
    11        A.  I would think so.
    12
    13   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Let me make sure I have understood that.
    14        What I understand you to say is that with salmonella food
    15        poisoning meat products are very often the vehicle?
    16        A.  Yes, sir.
    17
    18   MS. STEEL:  In the majority of cases.
    19
    20   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  He said "very often".
    21        A.  I do not have the statistics to say in the majority of
    22        cases.
    23
    24   MS. STEEL:  You said you thought that that was the case?
    25        A.  I think that is probably so.
    26
    27   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  But what other vehicle can you have?
    28        A.  Milk, eggs.
    29
    30   Q.   Is that it?
    31        A.  There is direct contamination.  This is an organism
    32        known as a faecal/oral so that it is faeces into the mouth
    33        and that can result in a variety of ways.
    34
    35   MS. STEEL:  Do you know how many serious outbreaks of E.coli
    36        0157: H7 there have been in this country?
    37        A.  Not very many.
    38
    39   Q.   Less than five?
    40        A.  I think so.
    41
    42   Q.   Was the incident in Preston the first major outbreak in
    43        this country?
    44        A.  I do not know anything about the outbreak in Preston,
    45        I am afraid.
    46
    47   Q.   McDonald's have admitted responsibility for an outbreak of
    48        food poisoning in Preston as a result of eating
    49        hamburgers.  You, presumably, have heard something about
    50        that outbreak of food poisoning? 
    51        A.  Yes, I have heard of it, yes. 
    52 
    53   Q.   You do not know whether or not that was the first one in
    54        this country then, the first major outbreak?
    55        A.  It was the first one that I had heard of that had been
    56        associated with a product.  E.coli 0157 is not an uncommon
    57        cause of infection but to actually link it to a vehicle is
    58        uncommon.
    59
    60   Q.   The effects of getting E.coli food poisoning are not

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