Jun 13th, 2022
3 mins
The FSA has published the latest findings of their research project ‘Survey of Salmonella, E.coli and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in frozen, part-cooked breaded or battered poultry products at retail sale in the UK’
The purpose of this project was to estimate how frequently Salmonella spp., non-pathogenic E. coli and AMR genes of particular importance were present in these products on retail sale in the UK.
Overall, 310 samples of chicken products were collected and tested between April – July 2021. This was made up of packs of frozen, coated chicken products collected from retail sale in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. 90% were from large national retail chains and 10% from small retailers, according to market share.
Salmonella spp. were detected in five samples (1.6%). When the samples were cooked according to the instructions on the packet, all Salmonella were killed.
Escherichia coli was found in approximately a third of samples (36%), but in many samples this was at very low levels. Only 15 samples (5%) harboured levels of E. coli that might be considered to indicate significant problems in the hygiene of the tested products.
These above represents a decrease from the previously done UK-HAS survey in 2020.
A proportion of both the Salmonella and E. coli isolates detected were resistant to various antibiotics, but in general, the incidences were lower than seen in similar studies carried out in previous years.
You can read the full report here
