Is your Organic Chicken clean? |
Leading supermarkets, Asda, Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury's Organic chickens have been labelled a health threat by the Tonight programme with Trevor McDonald.
Researchers claim Organic Chicken is more likely to carry the deadly food poisoning bug campylobacter than factory farmed chicken. With as many as nine in ten of the organic chickens testing positive for the bug. And up to one in four carrying a superbug version of campylobacter, which is particularly harmful to humans. will seriously undermine the perception that these farming methods are healthy and nutritious. Consumers may reconsider that the farming methods are healthy, nutritious and question the Organic Price Tag. Researchers found in the 46 carcasses they tested that 89 per cent had campylobacter. This is than the figure of 70 per cent that Government figures show is found in factory farmed chickens, which spend their lives in vast cramped sheds. More worrying was a finding that 26 per cent of these organic chickens contained a superbug form of campylobacter. The concern about these bugs is that they have a resistance to antibiotics. Doctors are finding that treating humans with antibioctics is very difficult. Campylobacter is the most common cause of food poisoning in Britain, ahead of bugs such as salmonella and listeria. The research was commissioned by ITV1's Tonight With Trevor McDonald. And the programme presented the findings to Professor Martin Blaser, head of medicine at New York Medical School. The TV programme also suggests that some organic farmers are apparently failing to live up to promises to offer higher welfare standards. The Soil Association, the country's main organic certification body, questioned whether the campylobacter found in the research were strains that are harmful to humans. The organisation also believes that the superbug level of 26 per cent in organic birds is likely to be less than factory farmed birds. And it suggested that the size of the survey sample, at 46, was not reliable to give a true picture. The Food Standards Agency highly recommend that when cooking chicken that people wash their hands and cook the chicken thoroughly, thus removing the risk of of campylobacter. Fowl Play: Monday 11 June 8:00pm - 8:30pm ITV1 London  
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