No poultry samples elevated so far by the Health Inspectorate have tested positive for the potentially lethal food-poisoning bug campylobacter, which was found to contaminate fresh chickens sold in all the UK’s leading supermarkets.
A damning report in the UK revealed that eight out of every 10 fresh chickens bought from UK supermarkets contained the food-poisoning bacteria which makes 280,000 people in the UK ill every year and kills 100.
Among the supermarkets named and shamed were Marks and Spencer, Waitrose, Tesco and Lidl.
Smart Supermarket, which imports Tesco chickens, said it has stopped stocking poultry from Tesco.
Arkadia, which stocks Waitrose products, and Lidl outlets import their poultry from Italy while Marks and Spencer stocks turkey but not chicken.
Up till now, no samples resulted positive for campylobacter
Moreover, freezing chicken can reduce the risk of campylobacter being transmitted to humans, according to experts.
A spokesman from the Health Ministry said the Health Inspectorate was elevating samples from the market of poultry and poultry products to be tested, among other parameters, for campylobacter.
“Up till now, no samples resulted positive for campylobacter,” he said.
Following six months of testing, the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) said that an average of 70 per cent of supermarket chickens proved positive for campylobacter on samples of skin. The bug tended to be more prevalent during the summer.
Asda was the worst-performing retailer, with 78 per cent of its chickens taken to labs testing positive for campylobacter over the period.
Shoppers were also warned that the outside packaging of chicken could be covered in bacteria as the bug was often spread in processing plants.
The FSA said that the industry needed to raise its game to reduce the burden of illness that campylobacter caused. Every retailer in the UK was failing to meet industry targets to reduce the number of birds classed as “highly contaminated” to just 10 per cent.
What is campylobacter?
Campylobacter is a food-poisoning bug that thrives in the gut and faeces of all kinds of poultry and can cause infections in humans. Up to 80 per cent of cases of campylobacter food poisoning in humans may be attributable to contaminated raw chicken.
The bug is killed by cooking but can easily be spread from raw chicken. The FSA advises consumers not to wash chicken before cooking as that can spread the bacteria around the kitchen, to double-wrap raw chicken to keep it separate from other food in the fridge and to throw away shopping bags that can become contaminated with raw juice.
Anything the chicken comes into contact with should be washed thoroughly, including hands, surfaces and utensils.
Poultry should be cooked thoroughly until it is no longer pink in the middle, to destroy the bacteria.