Campylobacter continues to be the most common cause of foodborne illness in the UK, and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) research has shown that a significant proportion of Scottish campylobacter cases are associated with a chicken source.
FSS is working in partnership with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) on the UK strategy to reduce campylobacter in chicken. Today, the latest set of results have been published from FSA’s survey of campylobacter in fresh shop bought chicken at retail, and its packaging.
The results from 1,009 fresh whole chilled UK-produced chickens and packaging sampled during January-March 2016 continue to show a decrease both in the number of birds with campylobacter, and those with the highest level of contamination.
The latest data for the three month period between January-March 2016 shows:
- campylobacter was present on 50% of chicken samples, down from 71% in the three months from December 2014-February 2015*
- 9.3% of chickens tested positive for the highest level of contamination in this quarter, which is down from 21.8% for the three months from December 2014-February 2015
The results are very encouraging, and one of the reasons the survey results are lower for this quarter is the action recently taken by retailers and their suppliers to remove neck skin from the bird before it goes on sale. Neck skin is the most heavily contaminated part of the chicken, so this is a positive step for reducing the risks to consumers. However, as the survey design has been based on the testing of neck skins, its removal means that detailed comparisons with previous results are not possible.
For this reason, the most recent results have been presented as an overall figure for the amount of campylobacter on chicken sampled across the UK, in contrast with previous results which provided a breakdown of figures by retailer. It should also be noted that this survey has now stopped, and a new survey will begin in the summer with a different method for testing campylobacter levels on chicken. The results from this new survey, which will rank the results obtained for each of the retailers, will come out in January 2017.
FSS Deputy Chief Executive, Elspeth Macdonald said:
“FSS is committed to on-going research to improve our understanding of the most important causes of campylobacter in humans in the Scottish population, and I welcome the improvement in these latest results.
“Improving the health of consumers in Scotland is a key priority for FSS and we look forward to on-going collaboration with the FSA and industry, to continue moving in a positive direction.”
FSS continues to advise consumers in Scotland that chicken is safe to eat as long as good kitchen practice is followed to help avoid cross-contamination, and chicken is cooked thoroughly.
Further information on these results can be found here.
*Please note that no data was available for March 2015