Sir, - I was eating my breakfast in a Connemara hotel as I read your article and Editorial (August 31st) on salmonella. It brought a wry smile to my lips.
The Irish Government has an absolute obligation to its producers, retailers and customers - and an unique opportunity. After decades of creating some of the finest food in the world, with a substantial export market and many jobs dependent on it, you are now realising that nothing can be left to chance. If the most vigorous standards are not maintained, then infection and contamination will (not may) develop, with the catastrophic loss of confidence and destruction of business we have seen in the UK.
Inadequate action is a recipe for disaster. The level of salmonella infection in British eggs is the same now as when I complained in 1988; the illness is just as nasty. Food poisoning is a killer - make no mistake. Since I resigned 10 years ago, some 400 people have died in the UK of salmonellosis. Many of those deaths, plus the thousands made sick, could have been prevented.
Lack of action on financial grounds is also, ultimately, fiendishly expensive. The BSE crisis is proof of that. The problem arose in the same way - through a casual attitude to animal husbandry, a slapdash approach to human safety. Millions of dead cows and billions of pounds later, we await the report of an inquiry which will tell us that we should have got it right in the first place.
Don't copy Britain; copy the Scandinavians, especially the Swedes. Make high quality your top priority, and pursue policies to achieve that end. It will be cheaper in the long run, will generate employment throughout the country, and will ensure that visitors like myself can continue enjoying our breakfast, lunch and dinner in perfect pleasure and complete security. - Yours, etc., Edwina Currie, UK Government Minister (1986-1988), Member of Parliament (1983-1997),
Lancaster Place, London WC2.