UK FSA warns of contaminated supermarket chicken

The contamination of supermarket chicken with a potentially deadly bug to the extent of nearly 75 per cent has emerged as the biggest food safety concern in the UK, according to the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

The watchdog said on Saturday that it was putting pressure on supermarkets to initiate action following the finding of a year-long study revealing, major retailers had failed to reach industry targets for cutting rates of campylobacter.

Around 19 per cent of the contaminated chickens were found to contain the highest rate of the bug, which was responsible for an estimated 280,000 cases of food poisoning a year.

Kevin Hargin, the FSA's head of disease control, said, the issue was the FSA's top food safety priority,

"We're taking it very, very seriously,"  he said, adding, ''This is the single most common cause of food poisoning, more than Salmonella and Listeria. Salmonella and Listeria might be more serious but this is certainly much more common. All of the results are quite disappointing, we didn't see any significant reductions.''

He added that tackling the spread of the bug was ''complex'' and supermarkets would need to make changes throughout the whole production line, from farming to transport and packaging.

Food hygiene experts have urged supermarkets to do more to counter the tide of dodgy chickens finding their way onto shelves.

Over 4,000 samples of fresh whole chilled chickens and packaging had undergone testing.

Worryingly, the study further revealed none of the major supermarkets met their targets for campyloblacter reduction.

While eight of 10 Asda chicken tested positive for the bug, two thirds from those at Sainsbury's were infected, while 66.5 per cent of samples from Tesco also tested positive.

However Markes & Spencer, the Co-op and Waitrose came in for praise over results of their recently implemented campylobacter reduction plans.

Steve Wearne, FSA director of policy, said, 'I am absolutely delighted to see the really encouraging results from these four supermarkets and their suppliers, Ashford Herald reported.

"They are making a real difference to public health, helping to cut down on the estimated 280,000 people who get ill from campylobacter each year.