Fewer fresh chickens brought from supermarkets and other retailers are showing the highest levels of the potentially lethal bug campylobacter, the UK’s food safety watchdog has said.
Fifteen per cent of samples tested positive at this benchmark, down from 22% last year but still double the target agreed by the industry.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) tested 1,032 samples in July, August and September and found some presence of campylobacter in 76%, compared with 83% of samples in the same period of 2014. It found that about 6% of packaging was contaminated.
The most significant reductions in high-level contamination have been made by the Co-operative and Waitrose, the FSA said. Any sample that contains more than 1,000 colony-forming units per gram is said to have the highest level of contamination.
Steve Wearne, the agency’s director of policy, 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.”
Nine supermarket chains are named in the checks, with Morrisons coming out worst. High levels of campylobacter were found in more than a quarter of samples of its chicken. Some presence of the bug was found in 86% of samples. It also had the highest presence of the bug in packaging.
Waitrose had the lowest proportion of samples with high contamination (4%) or any presence of the bug (59%). Nine per cent of its packaging tested positive, which was higher than average.
Chicken contamination with campylobacter is the most common cause of food poisoning. The bacteria can be killed through cooking but make about 280,000 people in the UK ill each year. Thousands need hospital treatment and about 100 people a year die.
