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Campylobacter found in 70 per cent of supermarket chicken
Chicken
Campylobacter is the most common form of food poisoning in the UK, affecting an estimated 280,000 people a year.
Campylobacter the most common form of food poisoning in the UK

Seventy per cent of supermarket chickens have tested positive for the presence of campylobacter, results published from a survey by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) have revealed.

Tackling campylobacter is the FSA's number one food safety priority and it is spearheading a campaign to bring together the whole food chain to tackle the problem.

A 12-month survey, running from February 2014 to February 2015, will test 4,000 samples of whole chickens bought from UK retail outlets and smaller independent stores and butchers.

So far, almost half of the samples have been tested, and cumulative results from the first two quarters reveal:

    •    18 per cent of chickens tested positive for campylobacter above the highest level of contamination
    •    70 per cent of chickens tested positive for the presence of campylobacter
    •    Six per cent of packaging tested positive for the presence of campylobacter with only one sample at the highest level of contamination

Campylobacter is the most common form of food poisoning in the UK, affecting an estimated 280,000 people a year.  

Steve Wearne, FSA director of policy, said: "These results show that the food industry, especially retailers, need to do more to reduce the amount of campylobacter on fresh chickens. Although we are only half-way through the survey, 18 per cent of birds tested had campylobacter over 1,000 cfu/g, the highest level of contamination, and more than 70 per cent of birds had some campylobacter on them. This shows there is a long way to go before consumers are protected from this bug.

"If chicken is cooked thoroughly and preparation guidelines are properly followed, the risk to the public is extremely low.

"There are signs that some retailers are starting to step up to their responsibilities. When more do, we will see the sustained improvements that will help prevent many of their customers getting ill."

A summary of the results by retailer can be found at www.food.gov.uk

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RCVS Knowledge appoints Veterinary Evidence editor-in-chief

News Story 1
 RCVS Knowledge has welcomed Professor Peter Cockcroft as editor-in-chief for Veterinary Evidence.

A world-renowned expert in evidence-based veterinary medicine, Prof Cockcroft will lead the strategic development and editorial quality of the open-access journal. He was previously in the role from 2017-2020.

Katie Mantell, CEO of RCVS Knowledge, said: "We are excited about the extensive knowledge of evidence-based veterinary medicine and clinical veterinary research that Peter brings, and we look forward to working with him over this next phase of the journal's development." 

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News Shorts
CVS Group hit by cyber attack

CVS Group, which owns more than 450 veterinary practices in the UK, has been hit by a cyber attack.

In a statement, the group said the incident involved unauthorised external access to a limited number of its IT systems. As soon as the attack was discovered, the group took its IT systems temporarily offline, causing 'considerable operational disruption'.

It has warned that the security steps taken and ongoing plans to move its operational systems and IT infrastructure to the Cloud are likely to have an ongoing impact over a number of weeks.

Due to the risk that personal information was accessed, CVS has informed the Information Commissioner's Office. The company is working with third party consultants to investigate the incident.