Research into Aberdeen’s most famous food poisoning outbreak is the topic of a one-day research workshop being held at the University of Aberdeen tomorrow (Thursday, December 6).
The aim of the workshop, which will take place in the Senior Common Room at the University, is to provide an opportunity to report and discuss research into the Aberdeen typhoid outbreak. This is a three-year Wellcome Trust funded project, which began in 1999. A team of researchers have been carrying out a comprehensive study into the typhoid outbreak of 1964.
Forty invited guests will participate in four sessions, including the experience of the people of Aberdeen, the impact of the media, professional conflicts, and political and economic dimensions.
The typhoid outbreak was one of the most important food safety milestones which has happened in the twentieth century and many of the features of the 1964 incident have been repeated in later food scares.
Dr Lesley Diack, Research Fellow, History of the Aberdeen typhoid project, University of Aberdeen, explained: “Some of the discussion will focus on ways in which the history of food safety issues can be explored to provide an opportunity for interaction between historians and some of those who have been involved in food safety issues since the 1960s."
The one-day event, which is sponsored by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Wellcome Trust, will take the form of four short presentations by members of the project team:
- Dr Lesley Diack, Research Fellow, History of the Aberdeen typhoid project, University of Aberdeen.
- Professor Hugh Pennington, Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Aberdeen and Chairman of the Pennington Inquiry into ecoli 0157 in Wishaw in 1996.
- Professor Elizabeth Russell, Department of Social Medicine, University of Aberdeen and a doctor at the City Hospital in Aberdeen during the 1964 outbreak.
- Dr David Smith, Historian of Medicine, Department of History, University of Aberdeen.
Discussion papers from a veteran of the outbreak, a historian or someone involved in a later food safety incident will also be covered.
Further information about the research workshop can be obtained by contacting Lesley Diack, University of Aberdeen on: (01224) 273885 or email: h.l.diack@abdn.ac.uk
Information about the project on the history of the Aberdeen typhoid outbreak of 1964 can be viewed online: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/history/ddd/newproj.hti
Issued by Public Relations Office, External Relations, University of Aberdeen, King’s College, Aberdeen. Tel: 01224 272014 Fax: 01224 272086.
Further Information:
Angela Begg, University of Aberdeen Public Relations Office, Tel: 01224 272014.
University Press Office on telephone +44 (0)1224-273778 or email a.ramsay@admin.abdn.ac.uk.