Supermarkets still selling us chickens with lethal food bug
SUPERMARKETS have failed to deliver on promises to tackle a potentially lethal food poisoning bug despite repeated warnings over the past 12 months.
And customers have been at risk for more than seven years, it emerged yesterday.
The Food Standards Agency revealed that three in four raw chickens are carrying the bug campylobacter.
The damning results are virtually identical to a study carried out by the watchdog in 2008, which also triggered demands for supermarkets and farmers to take action.
The situation was described yesterday as a ‘national scandal’ by disease experts.
The FSA figures are based on a survey of chicken bought over 12 months from February 2014. It found 73 per cent were contaminated with campylobacter.
Around one in five birds, or 19 per cent, were contaminated at the highest and most risky level.
More than one in 20 carried the bug on the outside of packs, which means simply lifting them off the shelf could put shoppers at risk.
Campylobacter is the most common cause of food poisoning in Britain, responsible for some 280,000 infections a year and 100 deaths. The cost is put at £900million in terms of NHS treatment and lost productivity caused by people being off work sick.
The FSA named Asda, Britain’s second biggest supermarket, as the worst offender with a contamination rate of 80.4 per cent across the 12 months. However, others were little better.
The watchdog has told all the supermarkets it expects them to deliver big cuts in contamination levels to protect public health.
It has set a target of no more than one in ten chickens being contaminated at the highest level. But its figures show that not one store has yet managed to meet this.
When the FSA began its survey in February last year, the proportion of birds that were contaminated was 53.1 per cent. This rose to 74.1 per cent in tests carried out in February this year, giving an average of 73 per cent for the year.
Experts believe the increase may have something to do with the relatively mild and wet weather this year, which encourages the spread of the bug. Professor Brendan Wren said the situation is so serious that radical action is needed to keep campylobacter out of the food chain, including the development of a vaccine to immunise the national flock.
Professor Wren, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: ‘It is a national scandal that we readily accept such a toxic food poisoning organism into our kitchens.’ The FSA advises home cooks to avoid touching the skin of the chickens and to cook the birds thoroughly. However this is not a guarantee against catching the bug.
Paul Wigley, professor of avian infection and immunity at Liverpool University, said: ‘The biology of this bug make its control extremely difficult. Whilst a few hundred bacteria can make someone ill, chickens may carry many millions of the bug with relatively little disease.’
He said that all types of chicken, including organic and free range, are just as likely to be infected.
The FSA has praised a number of retailers – particularly Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Morrisons and the Co-op – for introducing regimes that are reducing contamination levels and said it expected other supermarkets to follow them.
The benefits of these changes came too late to be captured in the FSA’s survey, which involved testing more than 4,000 chickens.
Last week Asda announced an action plan to tackle the bug. This involves blasting its chickens with steam and ultrasound.
Along with most other supermarkets, it is also moving to sell chicken in ‘roast in the bag’ packs.
Andrew Opie of the British Retail Consortium, which speaks for the stores, said: ‘Retailers continue to invest with suppliers in practical solutions that will make a real difference in tackling this issue. While it remains a challenge, we are determined to find a solution as quickly as possible.’
Comment – Page 14
‘National scandal’