Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the (a) Food Standards Agency and (b) UK Health Security Agency in tackling E. Coli 0157.

Between 28 August and 4 September 2022, an increase in the number of presumptive Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157 referrals to UK Health Security Agency was observed. On 10 September a cluster of cases of a specific strain of STEC O157 was confirmed through whole genomic sequencing.

All cases of illness of STEC O157 are interviewed and public health advice is given to at-risk groups to prevent onward transmission. After the results were available which confirmed an outbreak, 60 people were re-interviewed for investigation from 13 September and were notified of the outbreak. The general public were not informed of the outbreak as the suspected cause of infection was not established until the latter period of the investigation. It was therefore not possible to provide appropriate public health advice.

A report on the management and outcomes of the investigation is being prepared. A routine assessment of cross-agency incident responses and any areas for improvement to develop and implement action plans for outbreak management will be scheduled imminently. We are unable to estimate the average time between notification of an outbreak based on the results of whole genome sequencing and the provision of information to those affected and the general public. Such timings are dependent on factors including the cause of the outbreak and whether epidemiological and food tracing investigations can conclusively identify a specific implicated food and supply chain. Multi-agency investigations are initiated immediately on detection of STEC O157 outbreaks. Once the food vehicle of infection is confirmed, control measures are implemented by the Food Standards Agency in a matter of days.