SURVEILLANCE AND EPIDEMIOLOGY OF FOODBORNE ILLNESS IN NSW, AUSTRALIA

Reliable information on the incidence and causes of foodborne illness is essential for public health policy makers and the food industry. Let me illustrate. A Regulatory Impact Statement prepared prior to the adoption of NSW Food Regulation 1992 and amendment of the Food Standards Code (Adoption) Regulation 1989 under the NSW Food Act 1989 was unable to provide a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed regulatory changes, ''...not only because of the absence of adequate data to determine the overall impact of the costs of the proposed 1992 regulation, but because it is impossible to determine the benefits in terms of an anticipated reduction in the incidence of foodborne disease in NSW. This arises primarily because of the absence of data on the incidence of foodbome disease by type and origin together with the absence of any data on the costs of treatment and time off worK.'' Similarly the National Food Authority (1994) circulated a discussion paper which proposes changes to the regulation of food handling and hygiene that will have significant impact on all levels of the food industry in Australia if implemented. The document states: ''In Keeping with other industrialised countries, Australia has experienced an increase in reported food-borne illness (particularly campylobacteriosis) in recent years. It is not clear whether this represents a real increase in incidence, improved reporting or a combination of the two. Factors contributing to the most-common causes of foodborne illness are consistently identified as: food prepared in advance and then not-handled or stored under safe conditions; cross contamination between raw and ready to eat food; and breakdown in personal hygiene'' The document does not however provide any relevant data to support these statements. I am not criticising the National Food Authority but emphasizing how important are accurate data on the incidence and causes of foodborne illness for policy makers and consequently the whole food industry. Data on the incidence and causes of foodborne illness are used to: locate the sources and causes so as to implement immediate remedial measures to curtail outbreaks; provide information on new, emerging or changing causes of foodborne illness; survey disease patterns, local, national and international; provide a resource for food industry for the conduct of good manufacturing, food handling and risk assessment practices based on scientific principles; allocate appropriate resources to surveillance and educational activities; initiate surveillance, educational and other intervention strategies which will have measurable health outcomes; develop regulatory mechanisms based on scientific data.