FDBusiness.com

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has published the last set of results from its third survey of campylobacter contamination in fresh shop-bought UK-produced chickens. The full year’s results show that on average, across the entire market, 6.5% of chickens tested positive for the highest level of contamination, (over 1,000 colony forming units per gram – cfu/g). This is down from 19.7% in 2014/15 when the survey began.

Foodborne campylobacter is the biggest cause of food poisoning in the UK. The FSA has been testing chickens for campylobacter and publishing the results since February 2014 as part of its campaign to bring together the whole food chain to tackle the problem.

Full results from the survey found:

• The figure for high-level campylobacter prevalence (more than 1,000 cfu/g) among the top nine retailers (based on market share) was 5.6%.
• The ‘Others’ group, consisting of smaller retailers and butchers, had a significantly higher prevalence at 17.1% compared to the top nine retailers.
• The retailers with significantly lower prevalence than the average among all retailers were Morrisons (2.9%), Tesco (4.2%) and Waitrose (2.7%).
• There was a significant fall in the percentage of chickens positive for campylobacter at any level down from 73.2% in 2014/15 to 54% in 2016/17.
• In the last period of the third annual survey, April – July 2017, based on a total of 1,437 chicken samples 5.9% of chickens had high levels of campylobacter (over 1,000 cfu/g) down from 20.1% for the same period in 2014.

On 21 September, the FSA announced changes to its annual campylobacter retail survey. The top nine retailers (based on market share) will now publish their own campylobacter results on their consumer websites and no longer be included in the FSA’s annual survey.

The sampling and analyses they carry out will be in accordance with robust protocols laid down by the FSA, so all results will still be comparable. We will also have access to the raw data to verify samples and determine industry averages and we will have the right to comment publicly on the results.

The FSA’s annual survey will in future concentrate on smaller retailers, independent traders and market stalls as these are more likely to be supplied by smaller processors.

Heather Hancock, Chair of the FSA, says: “The full year’s results from our third annual survey show the significant progress the industry has made in reducing campylobacter levels in chicken, compared with their starting point. The major retailers are now taking on the responsibility to publish their own results, according to a protocol we have agreed. This is a welcome step towards greater transparency. Whilst we will keep a close eye on the performance of bigger retailers, it means the FSA can now focus our efforts on smaller establishments, where we haven’t yet seen the same level of improvement and where more progress needs to be made.”