Chickens from every major supermarket contain significant levels of campylobacter

Every major supermarket tested had significant levels of the bug present on their raw chicken samples. Credit: PA Wire.

The Food Standards Agency have so far tested more than 3,000 chickens as part of their investigations into the precancel of campylobacter - a bug chicken carry in their guts and their faeces, and the biggest cause of food poisoning in the UK.

The FSA said they were 95% sure of their findings, and the results show a nine-month period of a year-long survey.

Asda

The FSA tested 491 chickens from Asda, and found:

  • 78.9% of chicken skin samples tested positive for campylobacter

  • 31.1% of skin samples tested positive for the highest levels of contamination

  • 13% of packaging samples tested positive for campylobacter

'Others'

The FSA took 450 samples from a number of other smaller supermarkets including Lidl, Aldi, Iceland, and combined this data with samples from convenience stories and a few independent butchers.

  • 76.9% from this sample contained traces of the campylobacter virus

  • 23.2% of skin samples contained a contamination rate of more than 1,000 colony forming units per gram

  • 6.8% of packaging tested positive for the campylobacter virus

Morrison's

The FSA tested 271 chickens from Morrison's and found:

  • 76.2% of chicken skin samples tested positive for campylobacter

  • 22.9% of samples tested positive for the highest levels of contamination

  • 13.3% of packaging samples tested positive for campylobacter

Co-op

The FSA tested 274 chickens from the Co-op, and found:

  • 75.6% of chicken skin samples tested positive for campylobacter

  • 16.4% of samples tested positive for the highest levels of contamination

  • 4.4% of packaging samples tested positive for the bug

M&S

The FSA tested 103 chickens from M&S, and found:

  • 72.2% of chicken skin samples tested positive for campylobacter

  • 20.7% of chicken skin samples tested positive for the highest levels of contamination

  • 3.8% of packaging samples tested positive for campylobacter

Waitrose

The FSA tested 96 chickens from Waitrose so far and found:

  • 71.7% of chicken samples tested positive for campylobacter

  • 15.6% of chicken samples tested positive for the highest levels of contamination

  • 6.2% of packaging samples tested positive for campylobacter

Sainbury's

The FSA tested 451 chickens from Sainsbury's so far and found:

  • 69.6% of chicken samples tested positive for campylobacter

  • 14.3% contained the highest levels of contamination

  • 4% of packaging samples tested positive for campylobacter

Tesco

The FSA has so far tested 925 chickens from Tesco, and found:

  • 68.2% of chicken samples tested positive for campylobactor

  • 12.3% of skin samples contained a contamination rate of more than 1,000 colony forming units per gram

  • 4.1% of packaging samples tested positive for campylobactor