E.coli outbreak which killed one and made 250 ill was kept secret for 7 months

One person died and about 250 fell ill after eating E.coli-contaminated food in an outbreak British officials covered up.

It is thought the food affected was leeks and potatoes and sold in British stores including the major supermarkets.

The outbreak – which British authorities deliberately kept secret until now – lasted about seven months and is thought to have been caused by soil carrying a potentially deadly strain of the E.coli bug on the outside of vegetables.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) and Food Standards Agency (FSA) said about 250 people in this country – two-thirds of them women – fell ill between December and July. Of these, 74 were so ill they had to be hospitalised. Forty per cent involved youngsters under 16.

Despite the number and range of cases – which occurred across the UK – officials chose to keep quiet about a food safety threat. Health authorities are now warning the public to wash all vegetables and fruit carefully before they are eaten.

A similar strain of E.coli was responsible for the outbreak in Germany earlier this year, which killed more than 60 and infected 3,000 more across Europe.
Infected: Potatoes and leeks are thought to be to blame for spreading the bug

Infected: Potatoes and leeks are thought to be to blame for spreading the bug

In the UK outbreak, four victims developed the extremely dangerous haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), which can cause kidney failure. One patient, who was suffering underlying health problems, died.

Last night MPs and experts branded failure to inform the public at the time ‘a serious error of judgment’. One MP has called for an inquiry into the cover-up. The FSA and HPA say the delay was necessary as it took months to identify the most likely source.
Health authorities were handed a statistical analysis in June suggesting a link to leeks and potatoes.

Some of the people who fell ill bought vegetables from Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose. It seems likely the suspect vegetables were grown in Britain, but this has not been proven.

Officials have failed to pinpoint vegetables and farms responsible. Leeks and potatoes are their best guess, however turnips could also be implicated. Of the 251 cases, 193 were in England, 44 in Scotland and 14 in Wales, while 69 per cent were women and girls. The HPA said: ‘This range of stores from which purchases of the implicated vegetables were made indicates a potentially wide distribution of contaminated vegetables through a number of supermarkets and other shops.’

E.coli is associated with animal and human faeces, which can get into water used to irrigate fields. Manure can be used as fertiliser.

Dr Bob Adak, a gastrointestinal disease expert at the HPA and head of the multi-agency Outbreak Control Team said: ‘In this outbreak, which is now over, the vegetables could have carried traces of contaminated soil.

‘It is possible people caught the infection from cross contamination in storage, inadequate washing of vegetables, insufficient hand washing or by failing to thoroughly clean kitchen equipment or surfaces.’

The bug involved was a strain called E.coli 0157, which is particularly virulent and has been involved in a number of fatal food poisoning outbreaks in the UK.

Tory MP Neil Parish, a member of the Commons environment food and rural affairs committee called for an inquiry, adding: ‘It is essential the public is given the right information about what is going on and what precautions need to be taken.’ Erik Millstone, Professor of Science Policy at the University of Sussex, added: ‘This is a serious error of judgement. The FSA has a stated policy of putting the consumer first.’

The HPA said: ‘There was no evidence to suggest any particular retail source or variety of the produce was responsible for people becoming ill. Illness appears to have been caused by traces of soil carrying the E. coli O157 bacteria present on the vegetables.’

An FSA spokesman said: ‘We have not had the evidence to give consumers useful advice about the outbreak until now. We need to have robust evidence to make sure we don’t wrongly implicate particular food products.’

But Stephen Dorrell, Tory chairman of the commons health select committee, said: ‘For there to be an outbreak of E.coli that wasn’t reported is a straightforward issue of public accountability. This was information that the public had a right to know.’

Where have all the children gone, Britain's galleries wonder

Britain's leading galleries are losing hundreds of thousands of child visitors every year, raising serious concerns about the artistic education of the nation's children.

The National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) lost thousands of visitors aged 16 or under between 2010 and 2011, according to the institutions' most recent annual performance data, submitted to the Government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The National Gallery has been particularly badly hit, losing 100,000 child visitors in each of the last two years, during which its overall visitor numbers soared.

"I think it's the result of a general problem," said Dr John Steers, general secretary of the National Society for Education in Art and Design. "It's a direct result of schools anticipating a likely curriculum change away from creative arts courses. You can't ask kids to pay to travel to London museums on their own. I also think it's about teaching morale. It's just another consequence of government policy."

In July it emerged that four out of 10 secondary schools had cut key artistic subjects from their curricula as a result of this year's introduction, by the Government, of the English baccalaureate, which examines teenagers' achievements in English, maths, science, languages and a humanities subject.

A survey of 2,500 teachers by the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers found that 13 per cent of schools had reduced teaching of arts, drama and music as a result.

A spokesman for the National Portrait Gallery said that "issues beyond its control" had led to a decline in school groups visiting in the last 12 months, citing the Icelandic ash cloud, student protests around Trafalgar Square and Tube strikes as examples. Funding cuts had also made it harder for teachers to accompany such visits, he added.

"We hear from teachers that factors making it harder to bring schools out include... perceived health and safety issues for school trips and increased restrictions of student (insurance) cover arrangements," he added.

A spokeswoman for the National Gallery said its figures were based on an external research. She said: "Despite the economic downturn and changes in the educational constituency, booked visits – which are not included in these figures – by young people to the National Gallery have increased by 7,000 over the last year. This is a testament to the quality of the National Gallery programmes."

A spokeswoman for the V&A said the number of child visitors to the museum in the financial year ending in 2010 had been particularly high, explaining the subsequent decline. Child visitor numbers rose at the Tate galleries and the British Museum, which enjoyed significant interest, over the past 12 months, in the Turner Prize and the BBC Radio 4 series A History of the World in 100 Objects.

A DCMS spokesman said that child visitors to its sponsored institutions nationwide increased from 2009-2010. He added that the department would publish 2010/11 figures for museum visits by children under 16 shortly and that it could not "draw any conclusions until we see a complete picture".

Nancy Grace suffers an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction as her dress slips down on Dancing with the Stars

It all looked to be going so well for Nancy Grace on Dancing With The Stars last night, with her quickstep getting a good review from head judge Len Goodman.

But the legal broadcaster suffered an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction when her dress slipped down mid way through the energetic dance revealing a little too much of her chest area.

The star was being dipped by partner Tristan MacManus, when the first mishap occurred, leading to ABC to cut away to an audience shot.

On the European version that would be perfectly fine,' joked host Tom Bergeron, while judge Bruno Tonioli told Nancy that her performance was 'a bit top heavy at times.'

Unfortunately, her clingy brown dress then slipped down again, as she and Tristan waited for the judges verdict.

However, the 51-year-old later denied there had been a costume slip.

'Tonight, when we were doing our hopscotch portion of our dance, there was a little bit of movement but it did not rise to a wardrobe malfunction,' she told Us Weekly after the show.
We have taken every precaution known to men in this dress right here,' Nancy added.

'I'm talking industrial size precaution. There may have been, as Tristan said, a little bit of jiggling but there was absolutely not a wardrobe malfunction.'

However, the star did get an impressive score of eight for her dance from Len Goodman who said her performance was a 'breath of fresh air.'