In December 1988, UK health minister Edwina Currie sparked a massive political firestorm by claiming in a television interview that "most of the egg production in this country, sadly, is now affected with salmonella." The controversial statement triggered a 60% collapse in egg sales, leading to the destruction of roughly 400 million eggs and the slaughter of 4 million hens, while egg farmers faced weekly losses of £5 million and the threat of bankruptcy. Despite Currie later clarifying she had misspoken (meant "much" rather than "most") and was referring to flocks rather than the eggs themselves, the industry reacted with fury, calling her comments "highly irresponsible" and noting the actual risk of illness was less than 1 in 200 million. The controversy forced Currie to resign just two weeks later, although the government ultimately paid millions in compensation to affected farmers. The damage was so lasting that it took 25 years for UK egg sales to fully recover to pre-1988 levels.