Which? targets industry in campylobacter row

The Make chicken safe​ campaign calls on manufacturers, retailers and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to clearly and publicly set out the action they are taking to bring campylobacter levels under control.

It is also demanding that the latest quarterly results of a 12-month FSA sampling survey launched in February this year monitoring incidence of the foodborne pathogen in poultry meat be made public.

The national media recently reported that leaked data from the sampling programme indicated about a quarter of all items analysed contained unacceptably high levels of campylobacter.

Deliberately not disclosing​

Newspapers suggested the British Poultry Council (BPC) and the supermarkets were deliberately not disclosing campylobacter figures.

That followed comments from FSA chief executive Catherine Brown earlier this month that the British Retail Consortium, which represents UK retailers, had urged the FSA not to publish the latest data.

For its part, the BRC claimed it had merely written to the FSA for clarification purposes.

Meanwhile, BPC ceo Andrew Large said: “Members of the BPC wholeheartedly support Which’s objective to minimise campylobacter.​

“The Joint Working Group on Campylobacter will shortly publish a website which sets out its work and the interventions which have been trialled by industry to find a solution to the problem. As Which’s release highlights, next week the FSA will be publishing its second set of results of a survey of chicken samples sold in shops.​

 “The Joint Working Group is now focused on understanding the impact of certain process interventions, so resources can be focused on those areas which may have the greatest impact in reducing campylobacter.”​

‘Naming and shaming’​

The FSA had threatened previously to disclose campylobacter levels in shop-bought chickens, highlighting the record of each named retailer from which samples were taken. The proposal inevitably proved unpopular with retailers, which described it as ‘naming and shaming’.

The FSA held off on taking the step until it had access to more robust data, which it now believes it has and said it planned to publish the quarterly figures in full on November 27.

According to the FSA’s first quarterly data from its chicken survey, published at the beginning of August, 59% of samples tested positive for campylobacter.

“It’s scandalous that so much chicken with high levels of campylobacter end up on our supermarket shelves,”​ said Which? executive director Richard Lloyd.

“The supermarkets, watchdog and industry need to clean up their act and immediately publish the data they’ve been keeping from the public and tell consumers what action they’re taking, from coop to kitchen, to make sure that chicken is safe.”​

‘Complete cop out’​

Meanwhile, Which? called advice from public health professionals for consumers to freeze, defrost and cook raw chicken meat thoroughly to eradicate campylobacter on it “a complete cop out”.​ It placed too much emphasis on shoppers addressing the issue, rather than retailers, the consumer group said.

The Guardian​ has reported that Public Health England believes legislation is needed to spur the industry to reduce campylobacter levels more quickly in raw chicken sold in stores.

The poultry industry has been working on ways to get rid of campylobacter on poultry meat and poultry meat packaging, investing millions in its efforts. Faccenda is trialling SonoSteam technology, which uses ultrasound and steam to obliterate the bug.

Many firms have claimed the costs potential solutions are still too prohibitive to make their adoption practical.

Rapid surface chilling is another method being developed, which Jeremy Hall, group technical director at Bernard Matthews claimed at Food Manufacture Group’s Food Safety conference last month would cost 4-5p per bird.

About 100 UK deaths a year are caused by food poisoning linked to campylobacter contamination.