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Food Focus February 2009

Campylobacter strategy updated

NZFSA’s risk management strategy aims to reduce Campylobacter levels on chicken meat through interventions at appropriate points in the food chain. The strategy spells out an ongoing work programme. This has just been revised taking into account results achieved and new information

NZFSA recognises the high rates of human campylobacteriosis in New Zealand and the contribution that food, and poultry especially, make to this unacceptable health burden. With this in mind, NZFSA set an organisational performance target of a 50% reduction in the reported annual incidence of foodborne campylobacteriosis after five years (see the graph on page 5 for the number of cases over time). Behind this target is a risk management strategy to control Campylobacter, which is updated each year to take into account progress to date and guide further work.

The key achievements to date from the strategy include:

• attributing an estimated 60% of foodborne cases to poultry

• establishing a risk model for Campylobacter in broiler chicken in New Zealand

• developing and implementing a code of practice for primary processing of poultry

• mandating Campylobacter performance targets for broiler chicken carcasses at the end of primary processing.

Other work completed during 2007–2008 included:

• identifying on-farm risk factors for Campylobacter infection of poultry

• quantifying the reduction in Campylobacter jejuni on skin-on chicken breasts frozen and stored up to 10 weeks in a domestic freezer

• quantifying the reduction in Campylobacter on commercial frozen poultry

• completing a scientific study on leakproof packaging

• assessing domestic food handling practices

• surveying consumers on knowledge, attitudes and beliefs with respect to Campylobacter in poultry, including acceptability of possible interventions.

Ongoing monitoring to determine Campylobacter levels in commercial poultry flocks has shown improvement. Table 1 shows the quarterly results for the presence of Campylobacter in sampled broiler chicken carcasses to 30th June 2008.

NZFSA’s revised Campylobacter risk management strategy for 2008–2011 includes:

• developing targeted controls throughout the food chain

• focusing on hazard-based controls in the medium term

• focusing on risk-based controls in the longer term

• clarifying the proportion of cases due to poultry compared with other transmission pathways

• reviewing monitoring programmes

• establishing new baselines and monitoring changes over time

• promoting good hygienic practice by consumers collaborating with industry, consumers and research institutes on aspects of risk management

• collaborating with the international science community on aspects of risk assessment and risk management.

Consumer perceptions

An ESR report commissioned by NZFSA gathered information from 1000 consumers across New Zealand. It asked about their knowledge, attitudes and beliefs with respect to Campylobacter, campylobacteriosis and poultry.

The following are some of the key findings from the self-reported survey:

• from a selected list of foods, 89% of respondents thought chicken was likely to cause food poisoning, followed by other meats (21–58% of respondents, depending on the meat type), milk and dairy products (25% of respondents) and fresh fruit and vegetables (4% of respondents)

• consumers received information on chicken-related food safety issues from a range of media sources, including television, newspapers, journals, magazines and radio

• consumers appeared to be eating chicken more frequently than 10 years ago, with the main reasons being taste, convenience, healthfulness and value for money boneless portions were the most commonly purchased form of chicken, with fresh/raw being the most commonly purchased state

• there appears to have been an increase in the practice of thawing chicken in the refrigerator since 2005 most current chicken purchasers (84%) say they would still buy chicken if only frozen chicken was available; the main disadvantage of freezing was loss of convenience

• of the 988 respondents who consumed chicken, approximately one-quarter claimed they would be prepared to pay a 10–20% premium for safer chicken achieved through stricter farm management practices.

The report noted that despite extensive recent media focus on Campylobacter in chicken, New Zealand consumers are more likely to identify Salmonella as a chicken-associated hazard. This is somewhat surprising as New Zealand has a very low risk of Salmonella in chicken. However, it is consistent with a 2007 survey, where 77% of 750 respondents identified Salmonella as a general food safety issue compared with 63% for Campylobacter (although the question was directed at concerns with the whole food supply, not solely chicken). Surveys conducted in Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the USA also found that the general public were significantly more aware of Salmonella than Campylobacter.

Consumers noted thawing chicken in the refrigerator more often then thawing on the bench. These results suggest a change in consumer behaviour compared to a 2005 postal survey, in which 46% of respondents reported thawing meat or poultry at room temperature, while only 26% reported thawing meat or poultry in the refrigerator. NZFSA recommends thawing meat in the fridge overnight to prevent bacteria from growing on the surface (or use a microwave on the defrost or lowest power setting if you’re in a hurry).

NZFSA’s Campylobacter Risk Management Strategy 2008–2011 is available on our website.

The ESR report Consumer knowledge, attitudes and beliefs with respect to campylobacter, campylobacteriosis and poultry (August 2008) is available on NZFSA’s website.

See NZFSA’s Campylobacter Risk Management Strategy 2008–2011

Table 1: Presence of Campylobacter in sampled carcasses

Results by quarter (Q1–4)	Number of carcasses tested	Prevalence %	Mean log count
Q2 2007	890	57.0	03.07
Q3 2007	936	53.8	3.06
Q4 2007	916	45.1	2.75
Q1 2008	1309	45.0	2.70
Q2 2008	1528	30.6	2.41

Note: The target is for 80% of results to be below 3.78 log10 CFU/carcass, and 98% to be below 5.88 log10 CFU/carcass.