Before you next put fork to mouth, try digesting the following: there were 33 significant outbreaks of food poisoning in Ireland last year.
These mostly occurred in the summer and were usually food-borne, according to provisional statistics from the National Disease Surveillance Centre. The most common culprit foods were ham, turkey, chicken, beef, egg fried rice and seafood. More than 800 people became ill, 70 had to go to hospital and there was one death.
This, however, is by no means the full picture. In all, more than 2,000 cases of food poisoning were notified to the centre in 2000, yet this probably represents only about 1 per cent of the number of people who suffered from food-borne "tummy bugs" last year.
The surveillance centre collects data on incidences of salmonella and other foodpoisoning bacteria. The non-salmonel la designation includes the bug camplyobacter, which is the primary cause of food poisoning here, as well as the potentially lethal E.coli 0157 and listeria, which causes problems for pregnant women.
On top of this, viruses such as small round structured viruses, increasingly cause gastroenteritis. As if to make up for the bacterial predeliction for summer months, this causes winter vomiting disease.
Statutory notification of infectious diseases was introduced in Ireland in 1947 and the reporting system has remained largely unaltered. A draft document from the centre reviewing disease notification states: "The current information systems for notifiable diseases are mainly paper-based and inefficient.
"The list of notifiable diseases has not been subject to regular review and emerging diseases such as verocytotoxin producing E.coli (including E.coli 0157), that are of public health importance, are not notifiable."
Information held by hospital laboratories is not notifiable. "This is seen as a deficiency in current legislation as laboratories are potentially one of the most valuable sources of information on the infectious diseases that require public health action or that are important for national surveillance," the draft report states.
At national level, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland was set up in 1997 and the surveillance centre in November 1998. The National Salmonella Reference Laboratory in NUI Galway was set up in March 2000.
The establishment of these organisations has heightened attention on communicable diseases, poisoning outbreaks and food safety.
Last year, the Food Safety Promotion Board, which operates on an all-island basis, was established. At Government level, however, food continues to fall largely under the aegis of the Department of Agriculture.
The Consumers' Association of Ireland and the Labour Party have called repeatedly for a separate minister for food, independent of agriculture and seen to act in the consumer's rather than producers' interests.
Provisional statistics on the number of food-poisoning incidences last year show 1,522 cases of non-salmonella food poisoning and 635 cases of salmonella poisoning, a fall on 1999 statistics.
An all-Ireland telephone survey is being undertaken in an attempt to determine a more exact level of food poisoning in the population. By the end of December, almost 10,000 people will have been asked if they had gastrointestinal symptoms in the previous four weeks and the type of medical attention they had sought, if any.
Dr Thomas Quigley, chief food safety consultant with the promotion board - co-sponsors of the project with agencies North and South - says: "Only a small proportion of those who experience food-poisoning symptoms actually consult a doctor, and of those, even fewer under go tests to identify the particular cause of illness."
Preliminary results indicate reported cases of food poisoning represent only about 1 per cent of the real problem. This mirrors results in Britain in 1999 which found that of every 136 people who got food poisoning, only one was recorded in the official statistics.
The survey is also designed to estimate the economic and social impact on the community in terms of absence from work or school and costs to the health services. With BSE, foot-and-mouth fright and various disease-causing bacteria threatening enjoyment of food, there's an ongoing debate about going back to nature, eschewing chemicals and eating organic foods. For the Food Safety Authority, the issue is how to ensure that all produce is safe, whether it's produced conventionally or organically.
Organic foods are more expensive, and food elitism (in safety terms) should not be allowed to develop, says Dr Wayne Anderson, the authority's chief specialist (food science.) This year, the authority has embarked on four national surveys which will concentrate on the quality of cream in cream cakes, the quality of cooked chicken meat in sandwich bars, the microbiological content of smoked fish (an EU-wide survey) and the quality of soft cheese. "This is the first time we are undertaking national surveys," says Dr Anderson. As monitoring and surveillance are increased, the number of incidents of food withdrawal, food poisoning and breaches of regulations will also increase, he predicts. "It's a Catch-22 situation, but if we didn't look at anything, we wouldn't know there were problems and food still wouldn't be safe. Over time the volume of problems should decrease and that will be the test of the FSAI.
"We're on the consumers' side and the consumer, over time, will learn to trust us, but that doesn't absolve the consumer of responsibility for storing, handling and cooking food properly and for avoiding certain foods (soft cheeses and smoked fish) when pregnant."
A recent all-Ireland study carried out by the Irish Universities' Nutritional Alliance found adults consumed about a quarter of their calorie intake outside the home. The food authority's chief executive, Dr Patrick Wall, says: "More of us are trusting safe food-preparation to others. We are putting our health in somebody else's hands."
The authority and the safety promotion board have produced a leaflet urging consumers to contact their GP if they think they have been poisoned and to report the outlet to the health board or the authority. In the past year alone, it has received more than 2,000 complaints from consumers who had come across poor hygiene practices. Many more consumers complained directly to health board environmental health officers. The major causes of food poisoning in Ireland - camplyobacter, salmonella, E.coli 0157, listeria and small round structured viruses - will be examined in this series, with tips on how to protect yourself.
The safe food helpline, operated by the Food Safety Promotion Board, is contactable at 1850 404 567.
Next week: E.coli 0157 - a deadly strain requiring constant vigilance