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Food Standards Agency welcomes signs of progress on campylobacter

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has today published the first set of results from its second year survey of campylobacter on fresh shop-bought chickens.

The results for the first quarter of testing, from July to September 2015, show a decrease in the number of birds with the highest level of contamination from the same months last year. These most heavily contaminated birds are the focus of the current target agreed by industry, which is equivalent to no more than 7% of chickens at retail having the highest levels of contamination. Research has shown that reducing the proportion of birds in this category will have the biggest positive impact on public health.

The new data shows 15% of chickens tested positive for the highest level of contamination, down from 22% in July to September 2014. Campylobacter was present on 76% of chicken samples, down from 83% in the same months of last year.

The results for the first quarter show:

  • 15% of chickens tested positive for campylobacter within the highest band of contamination*
  • 76% of chickens tested positive for the presence of campylobacter
  • 0.3% of packaging tested positive at the highest band of contamination
  • 6% of packaging tested positive for the presence of campylobacter

*More than 1,000 colony forming units per gram (cfu/g). These units indicate the degree of contamination on each sample.

In this first quarter, 1,032 samples of fresh whole chilled UK-produced chickens and packaging have been tested. The chickens were bought from large UK retail outlets and smaller independent stores and butchers. The new survey commenced sampling in July 2015.

The FSA has been testing chickens for campylobacter since February 2014 and publishing the results as part of its campaign to bring together the whole food chain to tackle the problem. Campylobacter is the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK, making an estimated 280,000 people ill every year.

As with the previous survey, the data shows variations between the retailers. Testing of chickens from Co-op and Waitrose show both retailers have made the most significant reductions in the proportion of the chickens they sell that are most highly-contaminated.

Steve Wearne, Director of Policy at the FSA said: 'It is good to see that some retailers are getting to grips with campylobacter. However, we want to see all of them pulling together to achieve real and lasting reductions.

'I am also pleased that we are starting to see retailers and processors being open with consumers about what they are doing to tackle the problem and about the impact their interventions are having on the chickens they are selling.'

Summary of results by retailer

All results below are taken from the Official Statistics report for the survey which can be found at the link below. This report gives a full explanation of the results and background to the methodology.

The FSA advises that the data for individual retailers have to be interpreted carefully. Confidence intervals are given for each retailer and the 'others' category. These show the likely range of the results allowing for the number of samples taken. The 95% confidence intervals means that we would expect the true prevalence to fall within the lower and upper confidence limits 95% of the time.

Retailer

Number of
samples

% skin samples positive for campylobacter

% skin samples
over 1000 cfu/g campylobacter

% packaging samples positive for campylobacter

Aldi

99

76.8 (67.2 - 84.7)

9.1 (4.2 - 16.6)

3.0 (0.6 - 8.6)

Asda

102

76.5 (67.3 - 84.5)

23.5 (15.7 - 33.0)

8.8 (4.1 - 16.1)

Co-op

106

72.6 (62.8 - 80.7)

4.7 (1.5 - 10.7)

4.7 (1.5 - 10.7)

Lidl

101

65.3 (56.0 - 75.1)

11.9 (6.3 - 19.8)

7.9 (3.5 - 15.0)

M&S

104

82.7 (74.0 - 89.4)

18.3 (11.4 - 27.1)

1.0 (0.0 - 5.2)

Morrisons

109

86.2 (78.3 - 92.1)

25.7 (17.8 - 34.9)

14.7 (8.6 - 22.7)

Sainsbury's

108

80.4 (71.8 - 87.5)

17.8 (11.0 - 26.3)

5.6 (2.1 - 11.7)

Tesco

110

76.4 (67.3 - 83.9)

10.0 (5.1 - 17.2)

1.8 (0.2 - 6.4)

Waitrose

98

59.2 (48.6 - 68.5)

4.1 (1.1 - 10.1)

9.2 (4.3 - 16.7)

Others**

95

71.6 (62.0 - 80.8)

18.0 (10.5 - 26.3)

9.6 (4.2 - 15.9)

Total

1,032

76.3 (73.3 - 79.2)

14.9 (12.5 - 17.4)

6.4 (4.9 - 8.0)

 

**The ‘Others’ category includes supermarkets where the market share was deemed small using the 2010 Kantar data: eg Iceland, plus convenience stores, independents, butchers etc.

Read the report

Report on survey of campylobacter contamination in fresh whole UK-produced chilled chickens at retail: July - September 2015(446.79 KB)

Consumer advice

The FSA is pressing the industry to play its part in reducing the levels of campylobacter contamination at each production stage to as low a level as possible before raw chicken reaches the consumer. Chicken is safe as long as consumers follow good kitchen practice:

  • Cover and chill raw chicken: Cover raw chicken and store on the bottom shelf of the fridge so juices cannot drip on to other foods and contaminate them with food poisoning bacteria such as campylobacter;
  • Don’t wash raw chicken: Cooking will kill any bacteria present, including campylobacter, while washing chicken can spread germs by splashing;
  • Wash hands and used utensils:  Thoroughly wash and clean all utensils, chopping boards and surfaces used to prepare raw chicken. Wash hands thoroughly with soap and warm water, after handling raw chicken. This helps stop the spread of campylobacter by avoiding cross contamination.
  • Cook chicken thoroughly:  Make sure chicken is steaming hot all the way through before serving. Cut in to the thickest part of the meat and check that it is steaming hot with no pink meat and that the juices run clear.

More in this section

Year 2 of a UK-wide survey of campylobacter contamination on fresh chickens at retail (July 2015 to July 2016)

This 12-month survey investigates the prevalence and levels of campylobacter contamination on fresh whole chilled chickens and their packaging. The survey aims to examine more than 4,000 samples of whole chickens bought from UK retail outlets and smaller independent stores and butchers. The first set of results from quarter 1 (sampling period July to September 2015) are available.

Year 1 of a UK-wide survey of campylobacter contamination on fresh chickens at retail (February 2014 to February 2015)

The 12-month survey, running from February 2014 to February 2015, looked at the prevalence and levels of campylobacter contamination on fresh whole chilled chickens and their packaging. The survey tested more than 4,000 samples of whole chickens bought from UK retail outlets and smaller independent stores and butchers. The full set of results were published on 28 May 2015.

The Chicken Challenge

Take the Chicken Challenge to help cut campylobacter food poisoning in half by the end of 2015. Pledge your support by pressing the 'Count me in!' button on this page.

 

Channel website: https://www.food.gov.uk/

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