Hygiene call in new E.coli report

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/wales/6990184.stm

Version 0 of 1.

A report on an E.coli outbreak two years ago in which a five-year-old boy died has called for a national minimum standard of good hygiene in schools.

The Outbreak Control Team (OCT) report makes a number of recommendations including a review of how schools and council care homes buy their food.

Mason Jones from Bargoed in the Rhymney Valley died and 157 others became ill in the 2005 outbreak.

Butcher William Tudor who supplied the contaminated meat was jailed on Friday.

The 83-page report, which makes nine recommendations, will now be handed to Professor Hugh Pennington, who is holding a public inquiry into the outbreak. It is expected to meet in the new year.

Chair of the OCT, Dr Gwen Lowe said their report found that the majority of the 44 schools affected by the outbreak did their very best to enforce good hygiene standards, including ensuring children washed their hands before they ate and after going to the toilet.

But she said that some schools with older facilities found it more difficult to enforce hygiene standards.

It just brings it all back home that all these things should have been put in place a long time ago Sharon Mills, Mason Jones' mother

"This is the reason why we want to call for minimum standards in hygiene so that if there are problems we can recommend improvements and the school authorities feel statutory backing behind them," said Dr Lowe.

"Professor Pennington has our report and he will look at our recommendations very carefully and decide how to take this forward."

Other recommendations made by the OCT report included reviews of the regulation of the meat industry and the outbreak plans for Wales.

The OCT report also called for the development of a code of practice for health professionals to ensure that families of individuals with infectious diseases receive appropriate advice.

Dr Lowe said she hoped the report sent out a clear message to anyone involved in the food industry about what could happen if good hygiene processes were not followed.

She said the outbreak was the largest ever of E.coli 0157 strain in Wales, the second largest of its kind in the UK and the sixth largest world wide.

The report was compiled not long after the outbreak but its findings could not be published until legal proceedings against Tudor, 54, had been completed.

William Tudor of John Tudor and Son of Bridgend at court

He was jailed for a year for food safety offences after Cardiff Crown Court heard that a vacuum-packing machine, "wrongly used" for both raw and cooked meats, was the source of contaminated meat to schools.

Mason Jones died after eating ham and turkey as part of his school dinners. The cooked meat came from Tudor's premises in Bridgend.

Mason's mother Sharon Mills said the report confirmed for her that the outbreak was avoidable.

"It just brings it all back home that all these things should have been put in place a long time ago," she said.

A Welsh Assembly Government spokesperson said a group had been established to review the recommendations and agree what other actions needed to be taken.

"However, the full scope of what might need to be done will become apparent when the public inquiry has completed its work," the spokesperson added.