In 1989, Deputy Health Minister Edwina Currie announced that most of the egg production in Britain was infected with salmonella, a bacterium that can cause food poisoning. The Currie’s report brought Britain’s egg and poultry industry to the brink of collapse, and she was subsequently replaced as Deputy Health Minister

It was later revealed that an outbreak of Salmonella dublin infection had occurred in England and Wales in October to December 1989. Forty-two people were affected, mainly adults, and most lived in south-east England. Microbiological and epidemiological investigations implicated an imported Irish soft unpasteurized cows’ milk cheese as the vehicle of infection.