Scientists pore over faeces

The scientists hope to make fertilisers safer

Researchers are trying to help reduce food poisoning deaths by analysing human and animal waste.

They believe their results could have implications for the future of organic farming.

A two-year study has been launched to analyse how long bacteria, like the potentially deadly E.coli 0157, survives in human and animal waste recycled for fertilisers.

Working with European and UK Government agencies, the team from Southampton University hopes to establish how long the waste should be stored before the bugs are dead and can safely be used to aid food crop growth.

This could have an impact on organic farming, because of its use of these sorts of fertilisers

Professor Bill Keevil

Professor Bill Keevil, who is leading the team, said: "What's happened is that as society has grown bigger, so there is now a greater population to feed and more human faeces to be disposed of.

"There are other methods of disposing of this waste and animal waste, such as incineration, but that poses other potential health risks."

He said that recycling it for fertiliser had been globally accepted as the best method of disposal.

More than one million tonnes of human sewage sludge is used annually in this way.

E.coli O157 can be fatal

Professor Keevil added: "But the regulations we have on storage and treatment of waste were developed in the 1970s before the emergence of pathogens such as E.coli O157.

"Science has moved on and we now have much more sensitive methods of picking up the presence of bugs and quantifying them."

He said samples of waste would be taken from farms and initially injected with various bacteria, which would also include lysteria and salmonella.

"In the second year we will be looking at what happens if the bugs are not killed off by storage and are applied to fields," Professor Keevil added.

"This could have an impact on organic farming, because of its use of these sorts of fertilisers, but we hope that our results will not be alarming for the industry."