Subject: Scottish outbreak of E.coli O157 food poisoning continues

From: [email-masked] (J Ralph Blanchfield)
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 11:06:55 GMT

Hello Everyone,

The serious outbreak of E.coli O157:H7 food poisoning in central
Scotland continues. The first cases were noted on 22 November. Up to
11 December, 394 people (mostly in Lanarkshire and in the Forth
Valley, plus one in Glasgow and one in Lothian) have been affected
with symptoms, of whom 215 have been positively confirmed up to 11
December. The number of deaths has increased to eleven. 40 people are
in hospital, of whom eleven are described as "giving cause for
concern". Most cases, and all the deaths, are elderly people.The exact
number of children involved is not clear, but the first 110 cases were
reported as including 18 children. Currently six children are in
hospital, four of them undergoing kidney dialysis.

<P>Many  of the cases are in the town of Wishaw. Health officials
consider that the cause of the outbreak was cooked
meat supplied by John M Barr & Son of Wishaw, a family firm supplying
cooked meats to more than 60 outlets (wholesalers and retailers) in
the surrounding areas. The company has withdrawn all cooked meats, has
closed the business "until further notice" and was said to be
cooperating with health officials. As well as investigation by the
Lanarkshire health authority, a Government investigative team has been
operating, under Professor Hugh Pennington of Aberdeen University,
and Strathclyde police are also involved. In addition a Fatal Accident
Enquiry has been instituted.

On 10 December it was reported that a case has been linked with a
second Lanarkshire butcher, Colin Mulvaney of New Stevenston, one of
the outlets said to have stocked John Barr & Sons products. The
product involved is reported as a ham steak roll bought on 28
November. It was not manufactured by John Barr & Sons, but it is
possible that it may have been cross-contaminated in Mulvaney's shop
by residual contamination in the shop environment after the Barr
products were seized and removed from the shop. The Mulvaney shop has
been closed and will not be reopened until health officials are
satisfied that a "deep clean" has been carried out and hygiene
regulations thoroughly complied with.

Regards

Ralph

******************************************************************
J Ralph Blanchfield
Food Science, Food Technology & Food Law Consultant
Chair, IFST Member Relations & Services Committee
Web Editor, Institute of Food Science & Technology
IFST Web address: http://www.easynet.co.uk/ifst/ 
******************************************************************

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From: Malcolm Hills <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 22:37:26 GMT

Ralph,

Having scoured the press for days, and having seen the DoH warnings 
there are still an awful lot of questions unanswered.

Can you, or anyone else for that matter answer the following questions?

1.  due to the number of cases there was obviously a number of food 
items implicated. Were these all contaminated at manufacture, ie a 
breakdown in manufacturing technique throughout all cooking processes, 
or has gross cross contamination occurred following manufacture, if so, 
how many different outlets were involved.

2.  How many different foodstuffs/batches are (were) implicated?

3.  Why are the police involved? 

4.  Why do we here no mention of the EHO's, except when the Scottish 
Office are pressed into a corner and need a scape-goat?

Malcolm Hills

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From: [email-masked] (J Ralph Blanchfield)
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 21:57:22 GMT

Hello Malcolm and Everyone,

>there are still an awful lot of questions unanswered.

Yes indeed. I only know what has been made public, which is no more
than you know. What I am doing is providing an Editorial Footnote,
regularly updated, on the outbreak to the IFST Position Statement on
"Verocytotoxin-forming E.coli food poisoning and its prevention" on
the IFST Web site at <http://www.easynet.co.uk/ifst/> and posting the
same information from time to time on relevant listservs and
newsgroups, mainly for the benefit of subscribers without easy access
to UK newspapers.
>how many different outlets were involved.

Until the investigation is completed and the report is published, the
above questions cannot be answered.

It has been reported that Barr's products" went to "more than 60
outlets", that these have been traced and the Barr products seized. So
far, only one case has been linked to one of those outlets, reportedly
due to a rolled ham roll sold four days after the Barr products there
had been seized and removed (see my previous posting).
>2.  How many different foodstuffs/batches are (were) implicated?

The pensioners' Christmas lunch that provided many early cases (and
most if not all of the deaths to date) reportedly involved steak pie
and gravy. The birthday party a few days later in a pub reportedly
involved turkey, ham and roast beef supplied by Barr. No other
information available and we shall have to await the results of the
investigation.
>3.  Why are the police involved? 

No reason has been stated.
>Office are pressed into a corner and need a scape-goat?

There have been press references to comments by "a spokesman for the
environmental services department of North Lanarkshire Council"
describing "our officers visited.... etc." I took that to mean EHOs

Regards

Ralph