1 month ago
Tens of thousands of caller supermarket chickens past twelvemonth contained a perchance lethal nutrient poisoning bug, information shows.
Waitrose was nan worst offender, pinch up to 1 successful 15 earthy full chickens carrying excessive amounts of campylobacter. This exceeded strict information limits.
The retailer blamed factors 'outside of its control', arguing that 'unusually damp aliases foggy conditions' fuelled nan 'unusually high' testing results.
Campylobacter is nan astir communal root of nutrient poisoning. It typically causes diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting that gets amended people wrong a week.
In terrible cases, however, it tin beryllium life-threatening for susceptible groups, including young children, nan aged and immunosuppressed.
It comes arsenic 5 farms were past period stripped of their 'RSPCA Assured' position aft an undercover investigation recovered hens surviving successful 'appalling' conditions. Pictured, overcrowding astatine Harper Farm wherever investigators witnessed cannibalism, neglect and bullying
Supermarkets must study figures connected nan prevalence of campylobacter among their poultry products each 3 months truthful Food Standards Agency (FSA) officials tin show nutrient quality.
They stock nan proportionality of their earthy chickens which person much than 1,000 colony-forming units per gram (CFU/g) of campylobacter.
At this level, chickens are considered contaminated and transportation a higher consequence of nutrient poisoning.
Retailers are besides expected to guarantee nary much than 7 per cent of their chickens breach this levels.
Data for 2023, obtained by MailOnline, shows 7.1 per cent of each Waitrose samples logged betwixt October and December had much than 1,000 colony-forming units per gram (CFU/g).
WHAT IS CAMPYLOBACTER?
Campylobacter is nan astir communal origin of nutrient poisoning successful nan UK.
It lives harmlessly successful nan gut of galore animals and birds.
It infects nan gut of humans and is simply a communal origin of diarrhoea successful group of each ages.
About 4 successful 5 cases of campylobacter nutrient poisoning successful nan UK travel from contaminated poultry, particularly chicken.
One of nan main ways to get and dispersed campylobacter poisoning is done cross-contamination during nutrient preparation. For illustration if earthy chickenhearted is washed, nan campylobacter tin dispersed to activity surfaces aliases onto hands.
But nan germs is still recovered successful reddish meat, unpasteurised beverage and untreated water.
The mostly of group who get sick from campylobacter retrieve fully. But it tin origin semipermanent and terrible wellness problems successful some.
It is estimated that astir 1 successful each 1,000 reported campylobacteriosis cases leads to Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Fatalities are uncommon successful nan processing world. Children nether 5 and older group are astir astatine consequence because they whitethorn person weaker immune systems.
Symptoms of infections see diarrhoea, which tin beryllium bloody, abdominal pain, fever, headache, nausea, and vomiting. The symptoms typically past 3 to six days.
How tin you debar campylobacter poisoning?
You tin thief support your family safe from campylobacter by chilling your food, cooking chickenhearted correctly, avoiding cross-contamination and ensuring bully individual hygiene.
You tin debar cross-contamination by ne'er washing chickenhearted aliases letting earthy chickenhearted travel into interaction pinch ready-to-eat foods.
The supermarket recorded rates of 4.04 per cent betwixt January and March and 2 per cent from April to September, by comparison.
In 2022, conscionable 1.28 per cent of each Waitrose earthy chickens that were tested contained much than 1,000 CFU/g.
While nan concatenation acknowledged rates were 'unusually high' it based on that 'levels of campylobacter tin beryllium adversely influenced by seasonal changes and localised upwind conditions'.
A spokesperson told MailOnline: 'We're very assured these isolated results based connected a very mini sample size are not reflective of a inclination are moving to understand this anomaly.'
Lidl, meanwhile, saw nan 2nd highest complaint wide successful 2023, pinch an mean of 3.5 per cent complete nan 4 quarters.
Morrisons, Marks and Spencer and Co-op each saw mean rates of beneath 2 per cent successful nan clip periods they shared information for.
Tesco and Sainsbury's person some stopped publishing information arsenic they person changed really it monitors nan pathogen successful chicken, truthful their findings are not comparable pinch different retailers.
Aldi has not updated its related webpage aliases yet provided nan figures to MailOnline.
A spokesperson for Sainsbury's told MailOnline: 'The information of our products is highly important to america and we person a scope of processes successful spot to show and limit levels of campylobacter successful our caller chicken.
'We person consistently achieved nan FSA target for campylobacter levels for respective years and truthful we will nary longer beryllium formally reporting connected this.'
It comes arsenic five farms were past period stripped of their 'RSPCA Assured' position aft an undercover investigation recovered hens surviving successful 'appalling' conditions.
The 'free-range' ovum farms successful Leeds, Powys and Leicestershire each supplied to major supermarkets crossed nan UK, including Sainsbury's.
Secretly filmed footage by Animal Justice Project (AJP) revealed that nan tens of thousands of birds were surviving successful acheronian and cramped sheds and were surrounded by nan bodies and skeletons of dormant hens.
In immoderate cases, nan horrific conditions made nan hens distressed causing them to suffer feathers and grounds behaviours towards each different including bullying, fierce pecking and moreover cannibalism.
The 'free-range' ovum farms successful Leeds, Powys and Leicestershire each supplied to awesome supermarkets crossed nan UK, including Sainsbury's. Pictured, hens cramped together wrong 1 of nan sheds astatine nan workplace successful Powys
In immoderate cases, nan horrific conditions made nan hens distressed causing them to suffer feathers and grounds behaviours towards each different including bullying, fierce pecking and moreover cannibalism. Pictured, a freezer afloat of dormant hen carcasses at the workplace successful Powys
Campylobacter is responsible for an estimated 50,000 cases of unwellness successful England each year and is 1 of nan world's 4 biggest causes of diarrhoea.
More worrying is nan truth immoderate strains of nan germs person mutated to create a guidance to antibiotic medicines utilized by doctors to dainty terrible illness.
Latest stats show nan mean Brit consumes 35kg of poultry nutrient each year.
Apart from nan misery and symptom of nan unwellness itself, nan FSA estimates nan germs costs nan system immoderate £900million a twelvemonth successful position of NHS treatment and mislaid days astatine work.
To debar nutrient poisoning, group should make judge they navigator chickenhearted thoroughly, abstracted nutrient from different foods, support it successful nan fridge and lavation their hands and utensils aft rubbing earthy meat, according to nan FSA.
Chicken should besides not beryllium washed because it whitethorn scatter germs elsewhere successful nan kitchen, it added.
