Food poisoning cases on rise in the UK according to new standards report

Nearly half of Britons admit to having experienced food poisoning at one time in their lives.

That's according to the results of a recent survey titled Food and You, which gathered information about the UK public's behaviours and attitude to food safety and hygiene.

The Government survey, now in it’s fifth year, collected data from 2,241 interviews across England, Wales and Northern Ireland between June and November 2018.

Shockingly, nearly half of respondents - 47 percent - reported they had suffered from food poisoning at some time in their lives.

It showed an increase of cases among Britons from between 40 to 41 percent in 2012 and 2014, and 44 percent in 2016.

16 percent of adults said they had experienced food poisoning in the last year.

14 percent of that number reported seeing a doctor or going to hospital in the last year as a result of their symptoms.

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However, in stark contrast to the figures, three in five respondents mentioned good service (61%), a good hygiene rating score (60%) and the price of food (60%) as important in their decisions about where to eat out.

The survey also showed that since 2012, buying from mini supermarkets has increased from 35 percent to 43 percent

Meanwhile, supermarket home delivery has increased from 10 percent to 17 percent.

In December last year, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said Fruit and vegetables sold in British supermarkets could contain the norovirus.

FSA researchers found traces of the deadly winter vomiting bug in various fruit and veg products.

They discovered that one lettuce in every 20 hosted the virus, while it was also found in one in every 27 punnets of frozen raspberries.

Following the study, it is feared the norovirus could be prevalent in many other fresh foods.