Food poisoning bug found in 73% of supermarket chickens

A food poisoning bug has been found in nearly three quarters (73%) of fresh shop-bought chickens, the Food Standards Agency said.

A year-long study found 19% of the chickens contained the highest rate of the bug, which affects an estimated 280,000 people a year.

The study focused on the levels of campylobacter contamination on fresh whole chilled chickens and their packaging.

All major retailers failed to reach the industry target for reducing the bug between February 2014 to this February, the FSA said.

Asda had a higher-than-average incidence of chicken contaminated at the highest level, while Tesco was the only supermarket to fall below the industry average.