16.nov.06
The Scotsman
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1694712006
Normally they would have made do with tea and biscuits after prayers. Instead, the 80 pensioners from Wishaw Old Parish Church were looking forward to a free lunch.
The food was simple and wholesome: steak pie followed by a peach melba dessert. But it was a meal the church and the people of Wishaw will never forget.
More than half of those who attended the Sunday lunch on 17 November, 1996, were struck down with E coli O157. Eight of them later died.
They were among at least 21 people who died as a result of the world's most deadly outbreak of the bug. More than 500 more people in central Scotland were confirmed with E coli O157 during the 1996 outbreak, although many more are suspected to have fallen ill as a result, but were never tested.
But on the eve of the tenth anniversary of that fateful lunch, new figures show that E coli cases could this year reach their highest level since the Wishaw outbreak. And leading microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington was cited as saying that without additional funding, another ten years could pass before any major breakthrough is made in tackling Scotland's E coli legacy.
John Barr's butcher shop, which supplied the meat for the pensioners' lunch, is no more. Mr Barr has long since retired and the shop on Wishaw's Caledonian Road is now run by a new firm. A family connection to the site of the E coli outbreak remains, however - Mr Barr's son, Martin, still runs the baker's shop next door.
"The family doesn't want to comment," Martin Barr said - still aware of the sensitivity surrounding the case in the town.
Victims' families are angry with Mr Barr snr, saying he has never apologised for the outbreak, despite being heavily criticised after a fatal accident inquiry.
The inquiry led to a damning report, placing blame on the butcher and council health officials. Sheriff Alexander McPherson ruled six lives could have been saved if Mr Barr had told the truth about his business.
The report accused the butcher of deliberately misleading health officials over the scale of the distribution side of his shop to escape official checks. Failings of environmental health officials also contributed to the disaster, the sheriff said.
But charges of culpable, wilful and reckless conduct brought against Mr Barr were thrown out at Hamilton Sheriff Court in 1997 when Sheriff McPherson ruled that there was no case to answer. However, Mr Barr's firm was later fined £2,250 on two charges relating to hygiene and the sale of meat contaminated with the organism.
But the case did lead to major changes to food safety. Shortly after the outbreak was declared over, at the end of January 1997, Prof Pennington published a report on the circumstances that led to the tragedy.
He made a string of recommendations, including introducing licences for butchers, requiring them to train staff in food hygiene and the enforced separation of raw and cooked meats in food preparation.
He also advised there should be better training for abattoir workers and awareness programmes for farm workers.
The government accepted the recommendations and new procedures were introduced.