<p>Campylobacter is the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK and is found mainly in poultry. Reducing this cause of food poisoning requires interventions from the farm through to the consumer. This project will investigate interventions that would or may require EU approval before they could be adopted by the industry to reduce campylobacter numbers on chicken and turkey at the slaughterhouse.</p>
Research Approach: <br/>
This project aims to review existing data including the following three interventions which industry have indicated show significant potential to reduce campylobacter contamination:
</LI> <LI> ozonated water
</LI> <LI> ozonated carbon dioxide pellets</LI> </uL>
This information will be used to carry out preliminary and full scale trials, and provide data that would be needed for a submission for use in the EU. Samples will be tested for campylobacter on the day of treatment and, although no growth is anticipated, tests for campylobacter will also be carried out at the end of storage to examine whether any change (recovery) occurs during storage. Microbiological sampling and testing will follow a common protocol developed with the parallel project examining existing interventions (FS121014A).
<p> Find more about this project and other FSA food safety-related projects at the <a
href="http://www.food.gov.uk/science/research/" target="_blank">Food Standards Agency Research