59% shop bought chicken have campylobacter

On Tuesday, results of testing carried out by the Food Standards Agency showed that around 59 percent of shop bought chicken in the UK had been colonised by campylobacter, bacteria that are killed by through cooking but can otherwise cause severe food poisoning.

Samples taken from the neck flaps of 'fresh' chickens purchased in supermarkets, butchers' shops and from smaller, independent retailers showed high levels of the bacteria, which is behind most cases of food poisoning in the UK.

Responding to the findings in a statement on Wednesday, Defra officials said, "Our top priority is the safety of the public and people need to feel confident in the food they buy. We continue to work closely with the FSA and the industry to help further reduce the risk of food poisoning from undercooked or inappropriately handled chicken."

Backing the FSA's conclusions that action is needed to tackle the high rate of campylobacter identified from actors at all levels of the food supply chain, they added, "We want to see better hygiene controls on farms as well as improved training and education across the industry, including food producers, retailers, caterers and the public. This will help to reduce levels of campylobacter and manage the risk to the public."

Antibiotic resistance building

Worryingly, testing in March by the EU food safety watchdog EFSA and the European Centre for Disease prevention and Control (ECDC) showed that high proportions of food-poisoning bacteria such as campylobacter and salmonella are resistant to common antibiotics. The two agencies warned that resistance to commonly used and 'critically important' antibiotics in campylobacter isolates appeared to be in the increase in several member states. They also "frequently" detected resistance to commonly used drugs in bacteria from farm animals tested, including pigs and broilers.