Day 105 - 16 Mar 95 - Page 60
1
2 Q. 10 per cent to cases contracted abroad?
3 A. Yes.
4
5 Q. These are rough figures ---
6 A. Yes.
7
8 Q. -- you understand?
9 A. Yes.
10
11 Q. 10 per cent to dairy produce and shell fish?
12 A. Yes.
13
14 Q. 10 per cent to human carriers at the catering stage?
15 A. Yes.
16
17 Q. Something like .5 per cent to one per cent to red meat?
18 A. Yes.
19
20 Q. You then said this in answer to Mr. Morris: "We", and I am
21 quoting you, "can deal with whatever other type of food
22 poisoning you would like to ask me about"; this is in
23 relation to red meat.
24 A. Yes.
25
26 Q. Mr. Morris did not ask you, I will: To what other
27 organisms is any percentage of red meat poisoning, if I can
28 put it like that, attributable? I have expressed it very
29 badly. Can you give a percentage for each of the known
30 pathogens?
31 A. The other organisms which have been discussed in
32 relation to red meat food poisoning outbreaks would be
33 Staphylococcus aureus -- forgive me for the long words --
34 E.coli, we have already discussed; listeria is a bacteria
35 that has been much discussed recently in relation to a
36 range of foods and red meat has been mentioned in that
37 range but, to the best of my knowledge, what is left out of
38 the .5 per cent or less when Salmonella has been accounted
39 for would be again, in my opinion, negligible.
40
41 Campylobacter is an organism which is associated with food
42 poisoning, a mild form, but this is an extremely widespread
43 organism in the food chain and almost everywhere else, if
44 it comes to that. To the best of my knowledge, when we
45 look for ------
46
47 MR. JUSTICE BELL: This is red meat?
48 A. Yes, red meat. These are all micro-organisms which
49 have been mentioned in relation to food poisoning and a
50 group of foods which includes red meat. In my view, after
51 studying the outbreaks or the information on the outbreaks
52 that have been published, when you get down to it, red meat
53 is virtually not implicated. If it is, it is one or two
54 sporadic isolated outbreaks, and that is what I meant by
55 saying I would be willing to discuss other organisms apart
56 from Salmonella.
57
58 MR. RAMPTON: Thank you very much. You have heard, I expect, of
59 the case of E.coli outbreak which was attributed to
60 McDonald's hamburgers in Preston in this country?
