Cases of campylobacter in decline
A 17% decline in the number of laboratory reports of human cases of campylobacter in 2016 has been reported by the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
The FSA used laboratory reports, along with other factors, to estimate what level of decline in human cases could be achieved through its work to reduce campylobacter in chickens. Based on that modelling, the FSA estimates that there are 100,000 fewer human cases of campylobacter overall. This meets the agency’s aim, agreed by its board, to reduce the number of people getting ill from the food poisoning bug by this amount. Achieving this reduction is estimated to lead to a direct saving to the economy of over £13 million in terms of fewer days off work and NHS costs.
Levels of campylobacter in chicken continue to decline, as demonstrated in the first set of results from the FSA’s third year survey of campylobacter on fresh, shop bought whole chickens.
The results for the first five months of the third retail survey, from August to December 2016, show:
- Overall, 7% of chickens tested positive for campylobacter within the highest band of contamination
- Among the nine retailers with the highest market share, 5% of chickens tested positive for campylobacter within the highest band of contamination.
The results show a decrease in the number of birds with the highest level of contamination compared to the same months in 2015 and 2014. The new data show 7% of chickens tested positive for the highest level of contamination, down from 12% for the same period in 2015 and 20% in 2014. Research has shown that reducing the proportion of birds in this category will have the biggest positive impact on public health.
The percentage of chickens that tested positive for the presence of campylobacter at any level is 56%, down from 66% in 2015 and 78% in 2014. This includes samples with very low levels of campylobacter, which would be unlikely to cause illness.
Heather Hancock, chairman of the FSA, says, “The challenge we set of reducing the number of people who get ill from campylobacter has been achieved. In the absence of any other clear indicators, we can reasonably say that the work that we and the food industry have done from farm to fork has given us this really positive result for public health.
“This has been achieved by working with the industry to tackle this difficult problem and raising consumer awareness. We commend the efforts of the larger retailers and the major processing plants who supply them, all of which have shown significant improvement and many have achieved the target we set to reduce the highest levels of campylobacter. They have invested a lot of effort and money into interventions to tackle the problem.
“But there is more to be done and our focus now is on encouraging the smaller retailers and processors, who generally haven’t met target levels, to follow the lead of the major players, and we are considering how we can best help them and monitor their progress.”
