New Zealand Government failing to limit campylobacter in chicken, says public health expert

University of Otago professor of public health Michael Baker has responded to Food Safety New Zealand’s (FSNZ) inaction in reducing the acceptable limit of gastro-causing bacteria in chicken, which he described as ‘the most dangerous food anyone ever handled in the home’.

Despite many public health experts urging the government to make warning labels obligatory and to reduce allowable bacteria levels at chicken processing plants, a spokesperson for FSNZ–part of the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI)–said that there is no plans to do either.

The spokesperson said: “As long as chicken is safely cooked and prepared, and cross contamination is avoided, consumers do not face any additional risks of getting sick from campylobacter in poultry as opposed to other possible sources.”

Around 60,000 New Zealanders fall ill from foodborne infectious diseases every year, experiencing painful stomach cramps and gastroenteritis. At least 600 people are hospitalised and 30 suffer from the paralysing neurological disorder, Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Contaminated chicken makes up half of all campylobacter-related cases, and around 60%-90% of poultry is contaminated with the bacteria.

Baker noted the agency’s stance was baffling, saying: “There is nothing [else] that can cause this level of disease and injury to consumers–surely it would be top of the list of food products to have a label on. I believe it looks like they are putting the interests of industry ahead of consumers, I can’t think of any other reason for it.”

According to the MPI, regulatory steps have been taken since 2006, with rates of bacteria in chicken being reduced by half since then. The MPI also compelled chicken processors to submit weekly carcass tests and meet a maximum acceptable level of bacteria contamination.

New Zealand still has some of the highest campylobacter infection rates among developed countries and more could be done to reduce this, according to New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre director Professor Nigel French.

He said: “We’ve plateaued now for a decade and I think it’s time we need to put the focus on reducing it further. We have to keep pushing down those levels and then try and see what effect that will have on the disease rates in people.”

He described the MPI’s current goal to achieve a 10% reduction in human campylobacter cases by 2020 as ‘modest’ and called for a ‘more stringent’ target.

Poultry Industry Association of New Zealand executive director Michael Brooks said the industry was also working to reduce campylobacter rates further, saying  that New Zealand had the ‘most regulated, strictest…chicken processing industry in the world…so claims that more chicken means more campylobacter is completely disproven by the facts’.

He added that while chicken consumption has increased by 32%, campylobacter cases have stayed relatively stable at 6,000 to 7,000 since 2008.