Cause for concern? UK FSA flags campylobacter levels in British supermarket chicken

18 Jun 2019 --- A UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) review has found that 3.5 percent of chickens purchased from the top nine UK food retailers tested positive for the higher level of contamination of campylobacter. Fresh chicken from Tesco (6 percent) had the highest amount of the bacteria, according to the results, while Asda (5.5 percent) and Morrisons (5.4 percent) closely followed. According to the FSA data, which covered samples tested from January to March 2019, these are the chickens carrying more than 1,000 colony forming units per gram (cfu/g) of campylobacter. The results have been published as part of a long-running campaign to bring together the whole food chain to tackle the problem.

Campylobacter can trigger food poisoning if the meat is not properly cooked. Most campylobacter species can infect humans and other animals, causing disease. The bacterium’s main natural reservoir is poultry, however, humans can contract the disease from eating food contaminated with campylobacter species. C. jejuni is now recognized as one of the main causes of bacterial foodborne disease in many developed countries.

The bacterium is the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK and one of the most common causes of food poisoning in the US. The vast majority of cases occur as isolated events, not as part of recognized outbreaks.

The UK FSA sets a safety threshold of no more than 7 percent of products having the highest level of contamination.The bacterium is the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK and one of the most common causes of food poisoning in the US.  The agency has been testing chickens for campylobacter since 2014 and are publishing the results as part of a campaign to bring together the whole food chain to tackle the problem. 

“Campylobacter levels have remained steady and are below our target of 7 percent at the highest level of contamination. Nevertheless, we will continue to work closely with retailers to bring levels down to as low as reasonably achievable,” notes Rebecca Sudworth, FSA Director of Policy. 

Tesco stresses that providing high quality, safe food is its “absolute priority” as the retailer continues its long-established commitment to reduce levels of campylobacter in its poultry. 

“We are now seeing real progress at all stages of the supply chain in tackling the issue through the work we have done with our suppliers,” Tesco says. 

“We aim to remain at the forefront of progress on campylobacter reduction and to ensure we deliver this we have introduced our own industry-leading target – that at least 95 percent of chickens supplied to Tesco will have minimal levels of campylobacter (less than 1000 cfu/g). This will enable us to help our customers be as safe as possible while handling and cooking poultry.”

Morrisons also says that it has been working hard to reduce campylobacter levels in fresh chicken since 2013 and has introduced a campylobacter reduction plan which has shown significant improvements year on year.

A Morrisons statement says: “5.4 percent of our chickens have the higher levels of contamination compared to the FSA retail target of 7 percent from a sample of 111 chickens tested. Our results now for the last 17 consecutive quarters have been below the 7 percent FSA retail target.”

Discounter Lidl published the lowest of the nine retailers with just 0.015 percent, while the Co-operative reported 0.9 percent. High-end grocers Marks & Spencer reported 3 percent and Waitrose reported 2 percent. 

Sainsbury’s, which reported 1.2 percent in the latest figures, says that it is working with it our suppliers to find ways to tackle campylobacter at every step of the food chain. This starts on the farm by trying to stop campylobacter from colonizing flocks, introducing novel thermal treatments in the factory as well as new, convenient roast in the bag packaging,” says the retailers. “Like other raw meats, chicken still needs to be handled with care, but lower levels of campylobacter means improved safety for our customers when they are preparing chicken at home.”

The sampling and analyses are carried out in accordance with protocols laid down by the FSA and agreed by industry.

Poultry probe
The latest campylobacter findings for UK chickens closely follows another poultry probe in Germany which found that cheap chickens were rife with antibiotic-resistant superbugs. Cheap broilers from discounters in the country were found to be 56 percent contaminated with germs that are resistant to antibiotics, according to a Germanwatch investigation in April. More than one-in-three chickens were contaminated with germs that have resistance to antibiotics with the highest priority for humans.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens the effective prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi. AMR is an increasingly serious threat to global public health that requires action across all government sectors and society, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

To help tackle AMR, last October MEPs backed plans to stop the spread of drug resistance from animals to humans by curbing the use of antibiotics on farms, keeping drug-resistant bacteria out of food. Veterinary medicines must not under any circumstances serve to improve the performance or compensate for poor animal husbandry, says the new law. It would limit the use of antimicrobials as a preventive measure, in the absence of clinical signs of infection (known as prophylactic use) to single animals and not groups.

By Gaynor Selby