More than 70% of chickens contaminated with Campylobacter - FSA
Results for samples taken between February 2014 and 2015 show 73% of chickens tested positive for the presence of the pathogen.
19% of chickens tested positive for Campylobacter within the highest band of contamination – which was more than 1,000 colony forming units per gram (>1,000 cfu/g).
More than 4,000 samples of fresh whole chilled chickens were taken and packaging was also tested, with 7% testing positive.
Industry and retailer view
The British Poultry Council (BPC) said it and its members remain committed to reducing Campylobacter in chicken as a top priority.
“Campylobacter is a naturally occurring bacteria and our knowledge and understanding of this complex bug is increasing quickly through dedicated research and practical trials of interventions,” it said.
“As highlighted by the FSA, individual producers and their retail customers are working bilaterally to trial options including enhanced biosecurity, management of thinning, improved processing, temperature treatments, and novel packaging.”
Chickens in the FSA survey were bought from UK retail outlets and smaller independent stores and butchers.
Data shows variations between retailers but none met the reduction target.
Tesco is the only one which has a lower incidence of chicken contaminated with Campylobacter at the highest level compared to the industry average with 12.8% from 1,235 samples.
Asda had a higher incidence of chicken that is contaminated at the highest level with 29.7% of 662 samples.
However, over the period of the survey none achieved the joint industry target.
Case studies by Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, the Co-op and Waitrose published today showed decreases in Campylobacter on their raw whole chickens.
The tests were done on more recent samples than those from the FSA survey samples.
FSA said a new survey will start this summer to help it measure the impact of interventions being introduced by the industry.
Professor Mark Stevens, chair of microbial pathogenesis, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, said the high prevalence of Campylobacter in retail chicken has changed little since an FSA survey in 2007-8.
“In the interim, hundreds of thousands of laboratory-confirmed cases of human campylobacteriosis have been recorded, with many more undiagnosed in the community. Such infections exert a substantial burden on society and the economy.
“Poultry are unequivocally a key reservoir of human infections and the latest survey serves to highlight the importance of ongoing research to control Campylobacter at source.”
Campylobacter targets
FSA estimated 280,000 people fall ill in the UK with Campylobacter per year.
The agency wants to halve the number of cases by the end of the year.
Richard Lloyd, Which? executive director, said: “It beggars belief that nearly three-quarters of chickens on sale in supermarkets are still infected with this potentially deadly bug and that no retailers have met the FSA’s target.”
Which? recently welcomed action plans by supermarkets as part of its ‘Make Chicken Safe’ campaign.
Sainsbury’s outlined its safe chicken strategy in a blog post from Alec Kyriakides, head of food safety.
“We need to take action within our supply chain to ensure the risk is minimised before the chicken reaches our customers’ homes and we need to help customers understand what they can do themselves to prevent it, by preparing and cooking chicken properly," he wrote.
“It's definitely a challenge - but we are working to introduce interventions at all stages of the chicken process, involving work at the chicken farms which supply us, our processing factories, where the chicken is prepared for eating and in the home – helping our customers to prepare chicken safely.”
