Not only have we beaten salmonella, but increased consumer confidence means that egg sales are also now rising

Andrew Parker, British Egg Industry Council

It is likely to say the vaccination programme has worked well.

It is also likely to praise the industry's British Lion quality assured scheme for playing an important role in helping to restore consumer faith.

The number of salmonella cases in England and Wales has been more than halved since vaccination was introduced three years ago - and are now at their lowest levels since 1985.

Public Health Laboratory Service figures show that last year 14,845 people suffered from the food poisoning bug compared with 32,596 in 1997.

The 1997 figure was even higher than the 27,478 people who suffered from salmonella in 1988, the year the bug was first made famous by then junior health minister Edwina Currie.

Independent tests

More than 80,000 Lion Quality eggs were independently tested last year and all were found to be free of salmonella, while three out of four UK eggs are now produced under the industry's voluntary Lion code of practice.

The British Egg Industry Council (BEIC), which operates the code, is now calling for the government to ensure that two of its key elements - salmonella vaccination and a best before date stamped on every egg - are imposed on all UK eggs.

BEIC chairman Andrew Parker said the voluntary scheme had already cost egg producers �12m of their own money - proving their commitment to eradicating salmonella.

He said: "The Lion Quality scheme is the one good news story for UK agriculture.

"Not only have we beaten salmonella, but increased consumer confidence means that egg sales are also now rising.

"Three-quarters of UK eggs are now covered by the Lion scheme and it is now time for the government to insist that all eggs sold in the UK are produced to these very high safety standards."