One In Five Chickens Are Contaminated With Food Poisoning Bacteria

If your favourite meat is chicken, you might want to look away now – as a damning food study has revealed that one in five supermarket chickens contain potentially deadly food poisoning bacteria.

The study, conducted by watchdog consumer group Which? discovered 18% of chickens plucked from nine leading supermarkets were contaminated with campylobacter (a bacteria that causes food poisoning, mainly found in raw poultry, red meat and unpasteurised milk).

And it doesn’t stop there, as a further 17% contained listeria (a rare but potentially life-threatening disease that causes severe gastroenteritis and sometimes septicaemia blood poisoning) and 1.5% were contaminated with salmonella bacteria.

The supermarkets under the watchdog’s spotlight were Aldi, Asda, The Co-operative, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose.

The study involved testing 192 samples of whole chickens and chicken portions - from standard, free range and organic varieties that had all been reared in the UK.

Bacteria were found in chicken samples from each of the food retailers.

Although the statistics are worrying (campylobacter is the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK), between 2000 and 2009 the annual number of laboratory-confirmed cases of listeriosis more than doubled from 114 to 234, although this dropped in 2010 to 174.

Talking about the disturbing findings, Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd said in a statement: "While the situation is improving, it is still unacceptable that one in five chickens we tested were found to be contaminated with campylobacter.

"We want to see the risk of contamination minimised at every stage of production, because for far too long consumers have been expected to clean up mistakes made earlier in the supply chain."

Adding to this, British Poultry Council chief executive Peter Bradnock said: "This report makes clear that chicken is a safe and healthy product when properly cooked.

"These welcome findings show a big reduction in campylobacter presence on chicken, demonstrating the effectiveness of the biosecurity measures being taken by producers and processors against this naturally occurring bacteria.

“The British poultry industry is committed to working with consumer groups, government and retailers to ensure chicken is safe and healthy, and remains Britain's favourite meat."

These worrying statistics following a separate study in the US, which found that nearly half of packaged, raw chickens were contaminated with E.coli bacteria - from faeces.

The study by the Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine (PCRM) discovered that 48% of chickens bought in 10 major cities in the US were infected with bacteria.

“Most consumers do not realise that faeces are in the chicken products they purchase,” said Dr. Neal D. Barnard, president of the group, reports the New York Times.

“Food labels discuss contamination as if it is simply the presence of bacteria, but people need to know that it means much more than that.”

However, not everyone is moved by these findings, with the National Chicken Council in the US blasting the findings as misleading.

Ashley Petersen from the society said in a statement: “These findings, not a ‘peer reviewed’ study, are another misleading attempt by a pseudo-medical group to scare consumers in hopes of advancing their goal of a vegan society.”

Chicken contamination hit the UK headlines earlier this month after it was discovered that chickens could be to blame for female urinary tract infections (UTIs).

The study, conducted by a team of scientists at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, challenged the long suspected belief that urinary tract infections (UTIs) are caused by a person’s own E. coli bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract.

When researchers investigated further, they discovered that E. coli found in poultry was strikingly similar to those found in women.

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Harley Ted

5 Fans

05:10 PM on 05/16/2012

Oh dear, I'll never eat chicken again. The chickens I kept free range on my half acre garden would eat anything that moved; worms, slugs, mice, woodbats. I feathered and cooked them myself and they tasted great. It's a wonder I am still alive to tell the tale. They just need cooking properly.

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MaggieNewYork

12 Fans

10:26 PM on 04/15/2012

Just checked my own fridge/freezer temps. Fortunately, I have a new super fridge/freezer so I was able to see immediately that the temperatures for both fridge and freezer were way off. I just made the adjustments and tomorrow will put it on my chores list to give fridge/freezer a thorough clean now that I know my temperatures have been off. Not sure if that makes a huge difference but why take the chance? Although most folks do not like to think their kitchen could be under par, I appreciate articles such as this to keep me educated. I never knew what the temperatures should actually be for a "healthy" fridge/freezer, I also thought if the food felt frozen then that was more than adequate. Also, if the items in the fridge were cold but not frozen then that too was adequate. I was obviously ignorant of the facts pertaining to fridge/freezer temperatures. So bring it on down, educate me and then it is left to the individual whether or not they choose to follow the articles advice. For me and after one awful disgusting case of food poisoning from a restaurant in NYC, I never, ever, want to go through that experience again particularly as the staff in the emergency room at NY Medical Centre were without compassion or haste and god knows I seriously needed both!!

Wishing you all, good health and do try and stay away from NYU Medical!

adrianjcl

6 Fans

10:21 PM on 04/14/2012

All of the bacteria mentioned are killed if chicken or any other meat for that matter is cooked properly, it is just scaremongering. Most of these bacteria can probably be found on work tops etc in the majority of domestics kitchens any way.

cornishgirl

1 Fans

10:12 AM on 04/16/2012

totally agree hun if food is cooked properly what is all the fuss i always over cook my meat as dont want to get food poisioning i do think this sort of thing does scare people too much especially the elderly, i have been brought up to always be extra clean in the kitchen and not cross examine food i always thought it was common sense really but hey lets just hope that some will take notice yeah i know the very young and sick and poorly and elderly should take extra care but it is common sense really and good hygeine that counts

SunloverCR

14 Fans

11:35 AM on 04/17/2012

Exactly. My family laughs at me because I am so obsessed about making sure chicken is done, washing my hands about 20x while cooking chicken, sterilizing the countertop, etc!
But our family NEVER has had any sort of stomach things that people get (30 years of marriage) and since I believe 99% of those "stomach viruses" are FOOD POISONING, I will continue to be OCD when I cook and let the people laugh! ;)

thoughtexperiment

8 Fans

02:10 PM on 04/14/2012

Ermmm! I thought one was suposed to cook the chicken before one ate it. All meat contains bacteria of some kind or another, eating it raw would certainly give the chance of suffering from a bad attack of the "Ooo nasties" or worse. But then only a total lunatic would do that, wouldnt they?

Edmund Blackadder

2 Fans

01:22 PM on 04/14/2012

More scaremongering. Poultry has ALWAYS been a source of such problems which is why it MUST be cooked thoroughly before eating. Only an idiot would eat raw or undercooked poultry. If they do and then get ill it is their fault and not the chicken's. It's all about hygiene, an issue which is avoided in this non-article. I wonder what makes people like Kyrsty Hazell think they can write articles worthy of publication because clearly they cannot.

bfof

12:47 PM on 04/14/2012

The Answer is Easy - The human race simply need to evolve further so that we do not need food to live and simply live on fresh air, we wouldnt have to worry about the bugs in our grub which might cause us untold levels of illness and death, and just think, everyone of us, even fatties like me, will go through a stage of looking nice and slim before we shrivel up and die!!!, oh crikey!!! sorry, I forgot the air is polluted and there is no such thing as fresh air , we are all doomed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AOL get some real stories please instead of all the rubbish and scaremongering you normally put out!!!!!

crownhillbuilder

3 Fans

12:14 PM on 04/14/2012

The difference between responsible investagative journalism and trash sensationalist junk zoo reporting is huge.

This 'story' falls well into the latter catagory.

J. Kyle would be proud of this rubbish!

Mid you, looking at some of the idiotic postings, there are a lot of Kyle watchers around.

Damilton

36 Fans

12:10 PM on 04/14/2012

The presence of such bacteria is the reason you make sure you cook the chicken properly and your food gets up to temperature for long enough to kill them. In most cases, you need a poretty biog dose before it will cause serious sickness. I've known this since I was a boy, just about everyone who cooks does. So I guess it's merely further proof of how out of touch with reality our politician, Defra, food experts and journalists are. No wonder breaking news is more like breaking wind.

slam-bam

21 Fans

11:18 AM on 04/14/2012

Has this story been put forward by the League of Little Shops, so peopel are forced to shop there again, seeing as they're losing out to the big supermarkets??

10:51 AM on 04/14/2012

Has AOL been taken over by the National Enquirer or the Daily Sport?

Their team of 'Ace reporters' were never the brightest buttons on the cardigan, but the recent 'breaking news' stories seem to scrape the underside of the barrel.

So sad.

HUFFPOST SUPER USER

lillian12130

35 Fans

10:34 AM on 04/14/2012

rodents carry dangerous bacteria , The tesco store in Covent garden in London was infected by mice they had to close the store for several days/weeks .mice may carry parasites and diseases that are harmful to humans and animals, including:
Salmonella
Listeria
So who knows were the mice have run around on in the store and they like rats urinate and drop faeces as they run

10:55 AM on 04/14/2012

You would be meaning 'infested' not infected, I imagine.

All buildings have mice and rats somewhere near, if not inside, that's life.

So strange how our ancestors survived and bred without Rentokill and regular spraying of their caves with Dettol.

rba2753199

44 Fans

11:25 AM on 04/14/2012

It's claimed we are all within about 8-10 feet of a rat in the UK,I assume they mean 4 legged ones!

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whathappensnext

01:12 PM on 04/14/2012

Of course the life expectancy was mid 30s in the time of cave dwellers

10:26 AM on 04/14/2012

It is not just the supermarkets it can be the shops who sell raw foods outside the shops , they maybe refrigerated but all the dust and dirt can still get onto the foods if refrigerated in open coolers , those who live or work in towns with this type of food seller know what I mean

icyberjunkie

10:01 AM on 04/14/2012

Please... :-/ Is there really so little news that something like this makes a story. As the old saying goes 'Wake up and smell the coffee'. Chickens have Listeria, Campylobacter, Salmonella, E.coli (not 0157!!!) and a whole host of other things as do lots and lots and lots and lots (well you get the idea) of other foods. Why? because these foods are raw and the whole planet including us is covered by bacteria. Even us humans carry bacteria that can cause food poisoning! This kind of scaremongering really gets my back up and its about time we stopped expecting everything to be sterile and instead just carried on as our parents and grandparents i.e. take care to be hygienic and cook things properly instead of expecting to be treated like children who don't need to do anything to look after themselves. Rant over.

theoldcrows

0 Fans

10:49 AM on 04/14/2012

Well said.
I always thought the reason you COOKED MEAT is because it contained dangerous bacteria.

marcarlo2000

11:09 AM on 04/14/2012

Very well said, I consider myself as a sort of Food Safety expert and I entirely agree with you, bacteria is everywhere it is not news it is very old news! who wrote this article Edwina Curry? We just need to assume that all raw foods are contaminated with unwanted micro-organisms and just cook these foods thoroughly. and check in the middle that it is indeed properly cooked, but remember the danger is caused by cross contamination from the raw food to any ready to eat foods, surfaces or hands.

gladysdeathray

11:47 AM on 04/14/2012

Well as a "sort of Food Safety expert" you may be interested to learn that the word bacteria is plural (a single bacterium, two or more bacteria) so your claim that "bacteria is everywhere" while more or less factually correct is neither scientific or grammatical. Sorry, some days I can't help myself!

whatsurpoint

08:58 AM on 04/14/2012

The problem is that not all people know how to cook and food is not always cooked correctly. The point is good food safety practice all along the chain would decrease the chance of illness when these people try to cook - (my wife) no names. As a consumer we take on a risk- this is true. But does this mean that the rest of the chain can just forget rules and regs and let the contamination grow ? Me thinks not.... and don't forget you are not always the person who cooks the meat you eat !