KEY POINTS:
A three-year study is under way into a form of food poisoning that costs the New Zealand economy an estimated $75 million a year.
The New Zealand Food Safety Authority and the Ministry for the Environment have been awarded $735,000 to conduct more research into campylobacter.
The money comes from the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology.
The two organisations will work together to administer research which will enable scientists to investigate how the bacteria behaves in the food chain and the environment.
"The work will help us better understand the links between human health and the environment," said Ministry for the Environment general manager Sue Powell.
"For example, we will look at how campylobacter moves from animal waste on farms into human food and water supplies and how best to prevent this."
Poultry is recognised as a likely primary pathway and is believed to be responsible for about half New Zealand's reported cases of campylobacteriosis.
Campylobacteriosis accounts for about 60 per cent of New Zealand's reported notifiable diseases.
Latest figures show there were 13,839 notified cases in 2005. However, unreported cases mean the number of people that become ill as a result of the disease is likely to be much higher.
Recent estimates put the annual cost to the economy at $75 million a year.
- NZPA
