Campylobacter-contaminated meat is decreasing

The number of supermarket chickens which are contaminated with the bacteria campylobacter has fallen by 47%, an investigation from consumer group Which? has found.

The watchdog tested a total of 192 samples from nine leading supermarkets in the UK from free-range, organic and standard birds and found that only 18% tested positive for campylobacter – equivalent to one in five.

The results indicated an improvement on 2009 figures when the Food Standards Agency found that 65% of fresh supermarket chickens tested positive for the bacteria.

Furthermore only 1.5% of samples tested positive for salmonella – three samples out of 192.

But Which? Officials said they were surprised to learn that 17% of samples were contaminated with listeria.

Peter Bradnock, Chief Executive of the British Poultry Council, said:

“These welcome findings show a big reduction in campylobacter presence on chicken, demonstrating the effectiveness of the biosecurity measures taken by producers and processors against a bacteria which occurs naturally in all live animals.”

Referring to listeria levels Mr Bradnock said it was not unusual in chickens and explained that as long as the meat was cooked thoroughly any bacteria would be killed and rendered harmless.

In an attempt to minimise campylobacter further the FSA has created a Joint Working Group with DEFRA, the UK poultry industry and retailers, with the target of reducing the number of chickens with a high level of campylobacter to 10% in 2015, by introducing improved biosecurity measures on poultry farms.

These measures include:

• Limiting the number of people entering chicken houses;

• Improving hygiene such as workers changing from outdoor boots to indoor boots before they enter chicken sheds.

Kathryn Callaghan from the FSA said: “The ideal situation is for consumers to buy chicken that is as lightly contaminated with campylobacter as possible.”