February 2000 Professor Douglas Georgala trained as a microbiologist, and then followed a career in food research management, which included being Head of Laboratory of Unilever research, Colworth House, and subsequently Director of the Institute of Food Research. Food-borne illnesses can be serious, and lifelong health damage can result, particularly in children.
Some incidents can have fatal results.
These are unpleasant illnesses that also pose an economic burden on industry and the wider economy. A wide variety of microorganisms can cause food-borne illness. In England and Wales the types which cause most concern are Campylobacter , Salmonella , Escherichia coli O157, Listeria , and the SRSV viruses. In 1998 there were 23,420 cases of Salmonella illness recorded, and there were 58,059 recorded cases of Campylobacter illness. These are cases recorded by the national reporting system, but additional research suggests that many cases do not appear in these records.