British Salmonella in eggs controversy

Overview
The Salmonella in eggs controversy lead to Edwina Currie's regression as a government minister in December 1988 after she issued a hard-line warning about salmonella in British eggs.

The event
The infamous comment that "most of the egg production in this country, sadly, is now affected with salmonella" caused a moral panic in the general public, who feared the worse. It both sparked outrage among British farmers and egg producers as it caused egg sales in the UK to decline rapidly, by 60 percent. The subsequent loss of revenue led to the slaughter of 4,000,000 hens. Edwina Currie failed to clarify that she meant the egg production flock; not "most eggs produced", thus the public thought they were domed.

The true extent
Evidence had emerged that a mid-1980s liberalising regulation change had allowed salmonella to get a hold in many flocks.

Also see

 * 1) The Troubles
 * 2) Threat construction
 * 3) British Miners Strike