FSA: 73% of chickens test positive for Campylobacter

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has published the latest results from its the first nine-months of its year-long survey into the presence of campylobacter in raw chickens.

Campylobacter is the biggest cause of food poisoning in the UK. The FSA found that almost three quarters of poultry tested positive for the bug.

• 19% of chickens tested positive for campylobacter within the highest band of contamination (the highest level of infection being more than 1,000 colony forming unites per gram.)
• 73% of chickens tested positive for the presence of campylobacter.
• 7% of packaging tested positive for the presence of campylobacter. Only three out of more than 3,000 samples of packaging tested positive at the highest band of contamination.

They have tested more than 3,000 samples of fresh whole chilled chicken and packaging so far, as part of their year-long investigation.