Scare Story Of The Day: Two Thirds Of Our Chickens Are Out To Kill Us
SCARE story of the day: “Killer Bug In Most Chickens” – two thirds of chickens sold in the UK are infected with a deadly bacteria.
MORE than three-quarters of British chicken is contaminated with a potentially lethal food poisoning bug, a report revealed yesterday.
Potentially lethal – as in if a chicken fell from a tower block and hit you beak first in the eye it could kill you? The Express is here to inform:
Tests on birds for sale in shops across the country showed that 76.1 per cent of whole British-reared chickens harbour the campylobacter bug, which kills 80 people a year and makes a further 440,000 ill.
And it’s a growing problem, because in 2001, the BBC reported:
Campylobacter, which can cause severe stomach pains and diarrhoea, was found to be present in 69% of chickens tested, according to an investigation for BBC1’s 4 x 4 series.
The Express has more facts:
Chicken is the most pop¬ular type of meat in Britain with consumers eating their way through 1.64 billion birds every year.
That’s a lot of chicken making 440,000 people ill.
Campylobacter is the single biggest cause of food poisoning in the UK and up to 40 per cent of cases are thought to be caused by chicken bought in shops.
That’s 176,000 people made ill by infected chicken meat, from a trial of 1.64 billion birds.
There were 55,000 cases in the UK last year but these are only an eighth of the real estimated total of 440,000 cases because so few of the people who fall ill go to see their GP.
So that’s 22,000 cases of people being made ill by bad chicken meat from a total of 1.64 billion birds.
So why is this news, let alone front-page news? Well, the man with a vested interest tells us:
Andrew Wadge, chief scientist at the FSA, said of the report: “This survey has shown that, despite a lot of work we have done over the last few years, we have not really made any sort of in-roads on the level of campylobacter and we know that if we could do that then all the evidence points towards having a really big effect on food-borne illnesses.
“This is a long-standing problem, not caused by modern production methods. It is disappointing that the levels of campylobacter remain high. This is a significant public health burden and a big economic burden.”
Let’s hope he gets the Government funding he needs to save us all.
In other news: cook your chicken thoroughly until the bacteria are dead.
Posted: 7th, October 2009 | In: Reviews Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
