Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the level of campylobacter in imported chickens and chicken meat and how it compares to the level found in their recent study of chickens produced in the United Kingdom.

The Food Standards Agency advises that there are no available comparisons of campylobacter levels between chickens imported into the United Kingdom from outside the European Union and chickens produced in the UK. Chicken imported from outside the EU is not assessed for levels of campylobacter as most chicken imported into the UK is frozen. The European Food Standards Authority has indicated that a greater than 90% risk reduction from campylobacter can be obtained by freezing carcases for two to three weeks.