Campylobacter is a food bug responsible for around 280,000 cases of food poisoning every year in the UK, and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) research has shown that 60 - 80% of foodborne cases of infection are linked to chicken.
FSS considers the reduction of campylobacter levels found in chickens as an important food safety priority in terms of protecting public health and is working with others, including the Food Standards Agency (FSA), key stakeholders and consumers, to reduce campylobacter infection in the Scottish population.
Today, the FSA has published the final report of the analysis of the data from its UK survey carried out between February 2014 and March 2015, which determined the levels of campylobacter found on fresh, whole shop-bought chickens. The results for the full year, as previously published in May 2015, showed:
19% of chickens tested positive for campylobacter within the highest band of contamination*
73% of chickens tested positive for the presence of campylobacter
0.1% (five samples) of packaging tested positive at the highest band of contamination
7% of packaging tested positive for the presence of campylobacter
* More than 1000 colony forming units per gram (>1000 cfu/g). These units indicate the degree of contamination on each sample.
Peter Midgley, Director of Policy & Evidence said:
“Food Standards Scotland continues to support the campylobacter programme that is being undertaken by the FSA, and is working with other government departments and stakeholders to develop a strategy to reduce the levels of campylobacter in the Scottish poultry food chain”.
“Our advice to consumers is that chicken is safe to eat as long as good kitchen practice is followed to help avoid cross-contamination, and chicken is cooked thoroughly until steaming hot all the way through.”
Further information on these results can be found here.