Freezing chicken could reduce risk of Campylobacter

Food safety experts at Public Health England have suggested that freezing chickens during processing for human consumption could help to massively reduce the numbers of people catching the food poisoning bug campylobacter.

According to local health authorities, there are around 60,000 cases of campylobacter infections reported every year.

However, by freezing chickens found with campylobacter cells, this rate could be reduced by up to 90%, according to Dr Frieda Jorgensen of Public Health England. “Freezing does bring about a reduction in the number of (campylobacter) cells. We believe that they can reduce that by 90% if you are undertaking this freezing process.

“And that reducing the number of campylobacter cells on the chicken can matter in terms of the public health risk.”

This follows a survey by the Food Standards Agency which found that almost three-fifths of shop-bought chickens tested positive for the bug. 59% of birds tested were found to have campylobacter cells present, whilst in 4% of samples it was identified on the outside of the packaging.

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