June 28, 2018
Campylobacter levels in UK fresh chickens remain steady
Campylobacter levels in UK-produced fresh whole chickens sold in major retailers across the UK remained steady during the testing period January-March, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) reports.
A survey of the sampled chickens sold in the top nine retailers-Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Lidl, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose-showed that on average 3.8% of them tested positive for the highest level of contamination; these are the chickens carrying more than 1,000 colony forming units per gram (cfu/g) of campylobacter, which is the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK.
The previous results were 3.6% (October-December 2017 period) and 4.6% (July-September 2017).
"The latest figures are consistent with previous results and show we are consolidating on the significant progress made so far. We will continue to actively work with retailers and smaller poultry businesses to further reduce campylobacter levels", said Michael Wight, director of policy and science at the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
The FSA had been testing chickens for campylobacter annually for three years since February 2014. On Sept. 21 last year, it announced changes to the survey, with major retailers carrying out their own sampling and publishing their results under protocols laid down by the FSA.
In its first annual survey in 2014-15, the FSA found that a high 19.7% of sampled fresh chickens sold in UK shops tested positive for the highest level of contamination. By the third year of its surveys, which covered the period August 2016 to July 2017, the figure drastically dropped down to 6.5%.
Meanwhile, the British Poultry Council (BPC) welcomed the latest results of the retailer survey on campylobacter, saying they demonstrated the "significant progress made by the poultry meat sector and retailers in tackling campylobacter".
"We have seen a significant reduction in the presence of campylobacter in poultry production in the last four years, with only 3.8% of chickens tested positive for the highest level of campylobacter in March 2018 as compared to 19.7% in February 2014", BPC Chief Executive Richard Griffiths said.
