One in five supermarket chickens is contaminated with campylobacter, according to an investigation - spurring claims of "scaremongering" by a retail consortium.

The study involved poultry bought from nine of the UK's major supermarkets by the Which? consumer group.

As well as 18% of the samples containing campylobacter, 17% of them were contaminated with listeria, with salmonella present in 1.5% of the 192 chickens tested.

Whole chickens and chicken portions - standard, free range and organic, and all reared in the UK - were tested.

Sky News contacted all nine of the supermarkets tested in the survey. Most of them referred us to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

The BRC's food director Andrew Opie said: "Which? is scaremongering. Campylobacter is completely killed by normal cooking so providing people prepare chicken properly and follow sensible hygiene practices they're at no risk."

There’s always a risk; especially with cross-contamination in home and food service kitchens.

In 2009, the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) found (in a similar but not directly comparable test) that 65% of chickens were contaminated with campylobacter at the point of sale.

FSA said that tackling campylobacter was a “key issue” but warned that, despite the reduction in contamination, seasonal variations made it difficult to assess the merits of the decline.

Campylobacter was responsible for over 371,000 cases of food poisoning, including 88 deaths in the UK in 20009.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: "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."

British Poultry Council chief executive Peter Bradnock said: "This report makes it 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."

Lidl issued a separate statement to Sky News saying: "All farms used to produce our fresh poultry range are members of the Assured Food Standards scheme for poultry, commonly known as the Red Tractor scheme, and are subject to independent third-party audits.

So what.

And journos repeated bad UK food safety advice to cook chicken until the juices runs clear: color is a terrible indicator of food safety in eat. Use a tip-sensitive digital thermometer and stick it in.

Selfridges, the British concern that makes raw milk available from public vending machines, has decided to stop that, after the Food Standards Agency launched an investigation into whether the practice is legal.

The London Standard reports that shops in England and Wales are not allowed to stock raw milk due to the threat of salmonella, E. coli and campylobacter — but since December, Selfridges has got around the ban by allowing Longleys Farm in Hailsham, East Sussex, to sell the product from dispensers in its food hall.

Selfridges said customers should have the choice, but it would honor any “newly clarified rules.”
 

There’s an apparent and on-going outbreak of Salmonella Poona that’s primarily affecting the elderly in the UK.

The Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Pathogens (LGP) has reported 49 non-travel associated, fully sensitive cases of Salmonella Poona with specimen dates on or after 24 October 2011 to 19 March 2012. This compares with 21 and 33 cases reported during the whole of 2009 and 2010 respectively. Those affected range from four months to 88 years of age with 65% of all cases aged over 60 years and a median age of 69.5 years; men and women are similarly affected.

Cases have been found across England and Wales, with most cases occurring in the South West (28%), South East (16%) and Wales (14%) regions. So far, no cases have been reported in London and the East Midlands and 14 cases have received treatment in hospital.

The Salmonella Poona isolates from 41 of the cases have been further typed by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and all but one has the same PFGE profile XB.0003. This strain is indistinguishable from a strain seen in an outbreak in Sweden in 2010; however, a source was not been confirmed for that outbreak.

I did a little digging, but couldn’t find much about the 2010 Sweden outbreak. Anyone know? Suspect foods?

 Food inspectors found a disgusting mess at an illegally-run Hampshire catering firm – and now its owner faces a £100,000 bill.

Tired of its repeated flouting of the rules designed to keep people safe, council officials raided Paul Gillingham’s suburban base in Winchester.

The Daily Echo reports inspectors found unidentifiable food in the filthy kitchen, including 30 joints of meat, and also food in freezers under tarpaulins in the garden.

High-risk food was even stored in a Ford Transit, including mayonnaise, which had to be kept below 8C but was at 18C.

With the case closed, pictures of what inspectors found have just been released.
Now Gillingham, 55, faces a £95,000 legal bill that, barring a major windfall, looks set to “follow him around forever”.

Winchester City Council has won an order against him under the proceeds of crime act, because he was running an unlicensed business.

Gillingham had earlier admitted 30 food hygiene offences and was fined more than £7,000 by Winchester Crown Court.

The proceeds of crime order means that Gillingham must repay £95,000 made by County Caterers while it traded illegally between October 2004 and October 2010.