UK conference to help beat food bug
The Food Standards Agency is this week hosting an international conference to identify new ways of reducing the levels of the food bug campylobacter in UK chicken.
Campylobacter is the most common bacterial cause of food poisoning, causing an estimated 300,000 cases of illness every year in England and Wales alone. A recent survey carried out by the FSA showed that campylobacter was present in 65% of samples of chicken tested.
Food safety officials and industry representatives from around the world are meeting with their UK counterparts in London to discuss the various methods used to successfully tackle campylobacter in other countries, and what the UK can learn from these. The conference will help the FSA decide what new approaches should be pursued in the UK.
“Tackling the problem of campylobacter in UK chicken is a key food safety priority for the Food Standards Agency over the next five years, says Andrew Wadge, chief scientist at the Food Standards Agency.“The research we published last year showed that the levels of campylobacter are too high in this country and we need to find new ways of reducing the prevalence of this harmful bacteria.
