The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has unveiled a new strategy to reduce the number of campylobacter cases in the country.
Campylobacter, which is the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK, is considered to be responsible for about 460,000 cases of food poisoning, 22,000 hospitalizations and 110 deaths every year and a majority proportion of these cases are caused due to poultry consumption.
A survey by the FSA on sale of chicken in the UK during 2007 - 2008 showed that 65% of chicken on sale was contaminated with campylobacter.
FSA stated that monitoring carried out by the agency showed no evidence of change in the proportion of the highly contaminated chickens since 2008.
The agency expects the industry to focus on improving the effectiveness of biosecurity measures on farms to prevent flock colonization with campylobacter, ensure that procedures involved in slaughter and processing are effective in preventing contamination of carcasses.
It also suggests to continue to work on packaging and other initiatives that reduce cross contamination in the consumer and food service kitchen and to develop and implement new interventions that reduce contamination when applied at production scale.
FSA chief executive Catherine Brown said that the proposal is a shift in culture and a refocusing of effort by both government and the food industry to tackle this persistent and serious problem.
"While we remain committed to joint working with industry we want to encourage and see producers, processors and retailers treat campylobacter reduction not simply as a technical issue but as a core business priority - and I see some encouraging signs of that happening," Brown added.
