Campylobacter is a bacterium responsible for around 280,000 cases of foodborne disease every year in the UK. Food Standards Scotland (FSS) research has shown that 60% – 80% of Scottish Campylobacter cases are linked to a chicken source.
FSS considers the reduction of Campylobacter levels found in chickens 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.
On 19 November, the FSA published the first set of results from the second year UK-wide survey on fresh shop bought chickens. The 1032 samples collected between July to September 2015 show a decrease in the number of birds with the highest level of contamination compared to the same period last year.
The key findings are:
- 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.
FoodWorld 