Lethal food bug found in two-thirds of chickens
(Ben Gurr/The Times)
Most cases of campylobacter are caused by consumption of undercooked chicken or cross-contamination
A food poisoning bug that kills an estimated 80 people a year in Britain is found in two thirds of all chickens on sale in the country.
A survey for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) found that contamination in “home-produced” chickens was even higher, with 76 per cent of all samples of whole birds and chicken portions, including those farmed to free-range and organic standards, infected by campylobacter.
About 460,000 people a year suffer diarrhoea, cramps and abdominal pain caused by the bacteria, which can also be picked up from untreated water, unpasteurised milk and red meat. In the very young, the elderly and those suffering underlying medical conditions, campylobacter can be fatal.
However, about 337,000 of the annual sickness cases are linked to eating undercooked chicken or handling fresh poultry meat and cross-contaminating other foods or work surfaces in household and professional kitchens.
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Andrew Wadge, chief scientist at the FSA, said the figures reinforced the need for the highest possible hygiene standards in the home and in professional kitchens.
The bug can be destroyed by thorough cooking and, so consumers should eat the meat only when the juices run clear. Anyone handling chicken should also wash their hands and clean knives and work surfaces to prevent contamination of other foods.
Dr Wadge said: “Campylobacter is not just a risk from eating undercooked chicken, it’s about cross-contamination and getting campylobacter on your hands and transferring it to salads and fresh vegetables.”
The bacteria has been present in the environment and in poultry for years and is not caused by modern farming practices.
He suggested that the ideal solution was to find a vaccine for chickens.
A more immediate remedy would be to press the European Commission to allow fresh poultry to be soaked in a chlorinated wash in abattoirs before being distributed for sale to retailers.
Such a wash is used elsewhere in the world and is harmless to human, but is banned in the European Union.
In New Zealand, where the wash has been introduced in chicken production, the number of people suffering food poisoning from campylobacter has halved.
