September 21, 2020

Lesser chickens from UK supermarkets tested positive for Campylobacter

The percentage of chickens at Tesco and Asda testing positive for Campylobacter at the top level of contamination in the second quarter of this year has dropped below the target as set by the United Kingdom's Food Standards Agency (FSA).

Both supermarkets had recorded levels above the Food Standards Agency (FSA) threshold of 7% of birds with more than 1,000 colony forming units per gram (CFU/g) of Campylobacter in the first quarter of 2020.

Tesco reported 9% of 132 samples in the first quarter had the highest level of Campylobacter contamination while Asda recorded 9.2%.

The figures for the second quarter from April to June show Tesco had 3% and Asda had 3.6% above the top level of contamination.

Meanwhile, Lidl recorded above 6% of birds in the highest contamination category in the second quarter compared to 5.5% in the first three months of 2020.

Grocery chain Sainsbury's reported slightly more than 4% of chickens sampled were above the 1,000 CFU/g category from April to June this year compared to around 3% in the past quarter.

A total of 0.85% of chickens from Morrisons had higher levels of contamination from a sample of 118 chickens tested. This is down from 2.7% in first quarter.

- Food Safety News