Fears over lack of resources at Health Protection Agency
Experts who advise the Food Standards Agency (FSA) on microbiological risks have expressed serious concerns about the lack of resources at the Health Protection Agency (HPA) needed to carry out surveillance into the rising incidence of foodborne diseases such as listeriosis.
Acting chair of the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF), Professor Sarah O'Brien, said the matter was "an urgent public health issue" and should be taken up by the FSA board. Committee member and Sainsbury's chief microbiologist Alec Kyriakides said: "It is a matter of concern that there isn't the resource to investigate this." This view was echoed by other committee members.
The criticisms came at a meeting of ACMSF last month when members heard an update from the HPA's Iain Gillespie describing surveillance work carried out into the pathogen Listeria monocytogenes and the associated disease listeriosis in the UK.
Based on the data for the first six months of 2006 there was a continued shift in the clinical presentation of L. monocytogenes infection in England, Wales and Scotland, said Gillespie.
"There remains a need for additional epidemiological and microbiological resources to investigate this change, which might best be undertaken in a co-ordinated UK wide approach," said Gillespie.
"The HPA continues to administer clinical questionnaires to all cases reported in England and Wales," he added. "Standardised exposure data is also sought, but collection is hampered by disease severity and a lack of resources."
The head of the FSA's microbiological safety division, Dr Judith Hilton, added: "We recognise there is pressure on resources at the HPA and we are willing to pay for extra research."
