There were nearly two-and-a- half times more cases of campylobacter-caused food poisonings on the island of Ireland in the last four years than problems caused by salmonella, a hygiene conference in Dublin was told yesterday.
Dr Thomas Quigley, of the Food Safety Promotion Board, said that there had been 861 cases of campylobacter in Northern Ireland in 1999, 1001 in 2000 and 892 in 2001.
The latest figures available for the Republic showed that there were 2,085 campylobacter cases in the Republic in 1999 but this fell to 1,670 in the year 2000.
Dr Quigley told the "Excellence in safe food" conference in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin that there remains a number of areas where the food industry can improve standards further.
He said that viral gastroenteritris has emerged as the most common cause of outbreaks here in 2001.
A breakdown of these IID outbreaks showed that 15 of them were associated with food, four with water and the remainder were person-to-person spread.
He added that there was a significant problem in hospitals and residential settings. Earlier, the conference had been told that there were over six million cases of food-borne disease in Europe and the US every year as a result of poor food handling in the home.
Dr Quigley said the breakdown of general gastroenteritis outbreaks in 1998 to 2000 showed that hotels and cafes/restaurants topped the list, with private homes coming in third place.
Cooked food items, such as ham or chicken, fish and mashed potatoes were implicated in 10 cases, eight involved cold sandwiches and eight cold salads which included raw vegetables and cheese.
Factors contributing to the outbreaks included unhygienic premises and handling, infected persons handling food, cross-contamination from raw to cooked food and preparation too far in advance of eating.
One outbreak of food poisoning in an Irish hotel in 2001 involved 485 cases. The hotel had to be closed down temporarily. Of these, 64 per cent were guests, 46 per cent staff and the age of the victims went from two months to 84 years.
Dr Geoffrey Podger, executive director for the European Food Safety Authority, promised that over the next few months, the agency would develop a strategy for building consumer confidence. "We will ensure close collaboration between national bodies and the European Food Safety Authority, which will enable earlier recognition and more efficient solutions of food safety issues which cross EU borders," he said.
Mr Martin Higgins, chief executive of safefood, the all-Ireland food safety promotion board, said while there was a move towards a healthier attitude to food, over 66 per cent of the population were concerned about food safety.