Britain's food poisoning problem
Public urged to 'wake up' as hospital admissions for food-related illnesses reach new highs
![Food poisoning](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/jXa6bxafoH8cWfq2mkFHwC-1280-80.jpg)
The public is unwittingly playing "Russian roulette with food", an expert has warned.
Hospital admissions for food-related illnesses salmonella, E. coli and campylobacter have reached record highs in England, latest NHS data shows. And Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University, told The Guardian that there would be more cases until the British public "wakes up" to the risk of food poisoning.
'Much more than a dodgy stomach'
Admissions for salmonella infections reached an unprecedented 1,468 in England between April 2022 and March 2023, equivalent to three admissions for every 100,000 people. Cases of E coli have also soared, and admissions for bacterial infection campylobacter last year reached more than 4,340, a rate of nine in 100,000 people – up from three in 100,000 in 2000.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
While many people have suffered the "stomach cramps, nausea and rushing to the loo" associated with food poisoning, said Metro, for some, it "turn into something much more than a dodgy stomach".
In December, health officials announced that a person had died as a result of an outbreak of E. coli linked to an artisan cheese, with at least 30 confirmed cases across England and Scotland. That same month, the Food Standards Agency announced an investigation after more than 200 people became ill with a strain of salmonella "linked to poultry and eggs imported from Poland", said Sky News.
Experts are also trying to explain the overall rise in food poisoning cases. The FSA "puts it down to improved detection", said The Guardian. But Professor Lang told the paper that the increases had been fuelled by a "weakening of state attention and regulatory focus on food hygiene and safety". The problem has been "worsened by Brexit and local authority cuts, and a fragmentation of the system of food safety governance", he said.
The "squeeze" on local authority budgets and a worker shortage has seen the number of food standards officers fall by 45% in the last decade, said Metro, "leaving the sector stretched thin".
Tina Potter, head of incidents at the FSA, has also linked some cases to contaminated products being used in meals in restaurants and cafes. The watchdog is "asking local authorities to remind food businesses about the importance of good hygiene practices", she said in a food alert about last year's salmonella outbreak.
'We can all keep ourselves safe'
Many people get food poisoning as a result of "food prepared or stored incorrectly at home", said the European Food Information Council, but "the good news is that many cases are mild" and "we can all keep ourselves safe" by following simple guidelines.
"Our hands, kitchen utensils, and dishcloths all carry microorganisms", so handwashing and keeping food preparation surfaces clean is important. The non-profit organisation also advises keeping raw and cooked foods separate, because the former can contain invisible disease-causing microbes that can be transferred through practices such as "chopping salad vegetables with a knife that was previously used to chop raw meat".
Ensure that fruit and veg have been thoroughly washed, and that all meat and fish is fully cooked before eating. Cooked leftovers should be stored as soon as possible after cooling, in a fridge kept at between 0C and 5C, and consumed within two to three days.
If you do get food poisoning, said the NHS, "the most important thing is to have lots of fluids, such as water or squash, to avoid dehydration". Symptoms, which include nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach cramps and a high temperature, "usually pass within a week".
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
-
Oysters could help combat antibiotic resistance
Under the radar The mollusk shows infection-fighting abilities
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
How Trump's executive orders are threatening scientific research
In the spotlight Agencies are purging important health information
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
New form of H5N1 bird flu found in US dairy cows
Speed Read This new form of bird flu is different from the version that spread through herds in the last year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Microplastics accumulating in human brains, study finds
Speed Read The amount of tiny plastic particles found in human brains increased dramatically from 2016 to 2024
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Study finds possible alternative abortion pill
Speed Read An emergency contraception (morning-after) pill called Ella could be an alternative to mifepristone for abortions
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Why is the FDA slow to ban food additives?
Today's big question A legal loophole lets things slide
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Is this the end of cigarettes?
Today's Big Question An FDA rule targets nicotine addiction
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
The decline of the contraceptive pill
In the Spotlight Fears of the pill's side effects, stoked by social media, behind switch to fertility trackers – or no contraception at all
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published