Further action needed on campylobacter, consumers say
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Three quarters of consumers thought retailers should tell customers what proportion of chickens have the highest level of contamination.
Two thirds of consumers think the industry should continue to tackle campylobacter on chickens beyond the current target, according to a survey by the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
Campylobacter is the biggest cause of food poisoning in the UK, causing around 280,000 cases a year.
Since 2014, the FSA has been sampling fresh whole chilled chickens from major retailers and independent shops. Earlier this year, FSA revealed the percentage of chickens with the highest level of contamination had fallen from 19 per cent to 11 per cent.
The current agreed target is 10 per cent, but 66 per cent of consumers who responded to the FSA's survey said they wanted to see further reductions beyond this.
In addition, three quarters of those questioned thought retailers should tell customers what proportion of chickens have the highest level of contamination.
Seventy-six per cent also wanted retailers to be more proactive in telling them what action is being taken to cut campylobacter levels on their chicken, and more than half (53 per cent) said they would buy chicken from another retailer if their usual shop sold more than the average amount of 'high risk' chicken.
FSA has now resumed its campylobacter survey after it was suspended in April so that methods could be updated. The current survey will run until July 2017, during which time 4,000 fresh whole chilled chickens will be sampled from all major retailers and independent shops. The first set of results is expected in January 2017.
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