When I heard this story I thought it must be the same here. I buy heaps of chicken for me and my dog 2kgs drumsticks cost $6.00 on Saturdays. around 12/13. I usually buy at least 6 kgs . Never bought chicken from a supermarket.
70pc of chicken sold in UK supermarkets infected with potentially fatal campylobacter bug: study
By Europe correspondent Phil Williams
Updated Sat at 12:40amSat 29 Nov 2014, 12:40am VIDEO: Deadly bacteria found in British supermarket chickens (ABC News) PHOTO: The survey found 70 per cent of chicken on UK shelves was infected with potentially fatal food-poisoning bug, campylobacter. (Flickr: Penn State) RELATED STORY: Chicken producers 'struggling with animal welfare costs' RELATED STORY: Coles admits sale of out-of-date processed meat MAP: United Kingdom
Seventy per cent of fresh chickens sold in British supermarkets are contaminated with the potentially fatal food-poisoning bug campylobacter, a survey by the UK government's Foods Standards Agency (FSA) has revealed.
The agency said retailers have to do more to reduce the level of contamination of a germ that kills about 100 people each year.
Tackling the campylobacter bug is the FSA's number one food safety priority and it is leading a campaign to bring together the whole food chain to deal with the problem.
Camplylobacter is the biggest cause of food poisoning in the UK, blamed for 280,000 illnesses each year.
Publishing results from the first two quarters of a year-long survey of campylobacter in fresh chickens, the FSA said no retailers were meeting end-of-production targets for reducing contamination.
Tests of chicken from the major supermarkets and suppliers revealed levels of contamination have not improved, no supermarket passed even basic standards and one chain had 28 per cent of its fresh chicken classified as highly contaminated.
Industry representatives said the problem is being addressed but there were no simple solutions as issues can evolve at the farm, processor or retail level.
"These results show that the food industry, especially retailers, need to do more to reduce the amount of campylobacter on fresh chickens," said FSA director of policy Steve Wearne.
Its survey found 18 per cent of chickens tested had a campylobacter factor of more than 1,000 colony forming units per gram, the highest level of contamination, and more than 70 per cent of chickens had some campylobacter on them.
"This shows there is a long way to go before consumers are protected from this bug," said Mr Wearne, though he stressed that if chicken is cooked thoroughly and preparation guidelines are properly followed, the risk to public health is extremely low.
It is the first time consumers have been armed with specific information about individual retailers.
The FSA said its survey found Wal-Mart's Asda to be the only major grocer to have a higher incidence of chicken contaminated by campylobacter at the highest level, compared to the industry average, while market leader Tesco was the only major grocer to have a below industry average incidence.
A spokeswoman for Asda said: "We take campylobacter seriously and it goes without saying that we're disappointed with these findings."
"There is no silver bullet to tackle this issue, but along with other retailers, we're working hard to find a solution."
It is not yet clear if it will have any effect on where and how much chicken is purchased. ABC/wires
