The British Poultry Council

The British Poultry Council welcomes the results of the EFSA survey of European chicken flocks. The very low level of any salmonella of public health significance in British chicken flocks confirms the success of British chicken breeders and farmers in combating salmonella.

“Britain is the biggest chicken producer in the EU and the EFSA survey shows we have by far the safest chicken in terms of salmonella of public health significance of all the main EU poultry producing countries,” said BPC Chairman, Ted Wright.

Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Typhimurium are the two most common human salmonella infections in the UK and throughout the EU. No UK chicken flocks tested positive for S.Enteritidis and only one flock was positive for S.Typhimurium, equivalent to just 0.3% of the total UK flocks sampled. This compares with 0.8% for France ranging up to 32.7% for Spain and 37.8% positive for Poland for these two serotypes. Of the next most prevalent salmonella serotypes in human cases (S.Infantis, S.Virchow, and S.Hadar) there was only one sample positive for S.Virchow in UK flocks.

“There is still more to be done and we must not be complacent but this result is a big vote of confidence in the investment by British chicken producers in effective hygiene and controls in place on British chicken farms. These are underpinned by the Assured Chicken Production quality standards identified by the Little Red Tractor logo.”

The EFSA Report is available at

http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/science/monitoring_zoonoses/reports/zoon_report_finbroilers.html