Shoppers are being urged to boycott supermarket chicken after a report showed alarming numbers are contaminated with a potentially lethal bug.
Seven out of ten fresh chickens are carrying campylobacter on the skin, according to new study from the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
The bug is responsible for an estimated 280,000 cases of food poisoning each year and as many as 100 deaths.
Asda came out worst in the study. However the food watchdog made it clear that all the supermarkets are putting customers at risk. Consumer groups have condemned the retailers, saying they should ‘hang their heads in shame’ for selling food they know is dangerous.
But Tim Lang, the professor of food policy at City University London, went further and advised families to boycott chicken until the industry can guarantee the meat is safe.
He compared the public health crisis to mad cow disease and salmonella, saying: ‘I would suggest that we refuse to buy poultry until this is sorted out. This is a public health scandal easily on a par to that of the 1980s-90s.’
The number of fresh shop-bought chickens contaminated with the lethal campylobacter food poisoning bug has risen to 70 per cent
The number of fresh shop-bought chickens contaminated with the lethal campylobacter food poisoning bug has risen to 70 per cent
Professor Lang went on to suggest that the public should withhold its money until confidence in the safety of chicken is restored.
‘This may not be part of the public health methods but it’s definitely what history shows works when things are dire,’ he said.
The FSA found that 70 per cent of chickens on sale over the six months between February and the end of July were contaminated – worse than the 65 per cent reported in a similar study in 2009.
During the May to July period, the figure was eight in ten birds, and could have been as much as nine in ten for some retailers.
Almost one in five – 18 per cent – of the fresh roasting chickens were contaminated with the highest levels of the bug.
More than one in 20, or 6 per cent, carried the bug on the outside of packs, meaning that people simply picking them from the shelf to check a price could fall ill.
The study also revealed that Asda was the worst performer, with a contamination rate of 78 per cent. More than one in ten of its packs – 12 per cent – carried the potentially lethal bug on the outside.
The second highest contamination rate was for a group of smaller retailers including independent butchers and budget chains like Lidl, Aldi, Iceland and Budgens with a contamination rate of 76 per cent. The Co-op came next followed by Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Tesco.
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