Stringent Biosecurity Checks Can Counter Campylobacter, Say Experts

Global food experts have called for stringent biosecurity checks at poultry farms to counter the possible spread of campylobacter.

The hygiene standards in food processing plants should also be heightened to fight against the bacteria, they said in a meeting organised by the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA).

In 2009, out of nearly one million cases of food-borne disease in humans, about 300,000 reports of food poisoning cases were linked to campylobacter in England and Wales.

FSA expert Gael O’Neil said an estimated 75% of broiler flocks in the UK are contaminated.

In Scandinavia, heightened biosecurity checks at farms such as reducing the number of times people mix with birds and isolated changing facilities have resulted in a 10%infection rate.