Food Standards Agency
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Research needed on providing safe food to vulnerable people in hospitals
The Food Standards Agency is commissioning work to develop guidance that focuses on best practice in relation to providing food to vulnerable patients.
The focus is on patients who are at increased risk of contracting listeriosis within NHS hospitals, private hospitals, nursing homes and similar healthcare settings. The work forms part of the Listeria Risk Management Programme, which aims to reduce the number of cases of listeriosis in the UK. You can find out more about the programme via the link below.
The guidance will provide practical support for staff in hospitals and similar healthcare establishments who have responsibility for providing food to:
- pregnant women and their unborn and newly delivered infants
- people aged 60 years and over with weakened immune systems
- people with weakened immune systems due to illness, disease or medication
It will help those staff to identify and manage the critical control points specific to controlling Listeria monocytogenes in the food supply chain.
Research requirements
The research requirement is for the production of an initial report (draft guidance) that will be developed further by the Listeria Risk Management Programme’s Procurement/Provision Subgroup before publication by the FSA.
The deadline for applications is Friday 30 August 2013. To find out more about this call for tender, you will need to register as a supplier on the FSA’s electronic tendering system, ePPS, via the link below.
Science behind the story
Listeriosis, the foodborne illness caused by listeria, is relatively rare but listeria causes more deaths from food poisoning in the UK than other foodborne bugs. Vulnerable groups of the population are at increased risk. The Agency aims to reduce the number of cases of listeriosis in the UK by the year 2015 through the Listeria Risk Management Programme.
Between 2000 and 2009, the annual number of laboratory-confirmed cases of listeriosis more than doubled from 114 to 234 cases in the UK. In 2010, there was a drop in laboratory-confirmed cases (to 174), although this remains above levels observed in the 1990s.
Listeriosis has a significant public health and economic impact because of its high hospitalisation and mortality rate. Most people infected with listeria are hospitalised and approximately a third die. The disease costs the UK economy an estimated £245 million a year.
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