Which? calls for supermarkets to take action on campylobacter

As part of our ‘Make Chicken Safe‘ campaign – which now has almost 30,000 supporters, we have today written to the seven major supermarkets calling on them to make publicly available plans on how they will tackle campylobacter, with clear timescales for action.

Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd, says:

“Six weeks on from the revelation of scandalously high levels of campylobacter in chicken, the supermarkets still haven’t told consumers how they will tackle this potentially fatal bug.

“People need reassurance that supermarkets are doing everything they can to make chicken safe. The retailers must publish their plans and commit to action now.”

Background

Our letter calling on action from seven supermarkets has been sent to Asda, Co-op, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.

Our research on campylobacter in November last year found:

– Six in 10 consumers (61%) expressed concern about these high levels of campylobacter in supermarket chicken

– Three-quarters (77%) said they thought the levels of campylobacter were too high

– More than half (55%) thought that there wasn’t enough information available regarding campylobacter levels in chicken

– Only a third of people (33%) had heard of campylobacter, compared to 94% being aware of salmonella and 92% of E. coli.

Nearly 30,000 people have supported our Make Chicken Safe campaign since it’s launch in November last year. For more details or to sign up to the campaign visit www.which.co.uk/campylobacter