It is the UK’s biggest cause of food poisoning - and the top strategic priority for the FSA - yet consumer awareness of campylobacter and how to avoid it remains worryingly low.
That is the key insight from an exclusive survey for The Grocer, which reveals just 32% of UK consumers have heard of campylobacter and many are unaware of key hygiene measures to protect themselves.
When shown a list of meats to choose from, over 70% of Brits correctly identify chicken as the main source of food poisoning. Women and the over-35s are the savviest on this topic, but some demographics appear to be dangerously under-informed. “Londoners and the under-35s seem most oblivious to the potential perils lurking in our poultry,” says Lucia Juliano, head of consumer and retail research at Harris Interactive, which polled 2,000 consumers for The Grocer. “Only 55% of Londoners and 51% of under-25 year old mentioned chicken as the main source of food poisoning - clearly indicating that education among these two groups needs to be ramped up.”
Young consumers appear particularly ill equipped to deal with campylobacter risk, the survey suggests. The FSA advises consumers not to wash raw chicken to avoid spreading the bug, but just 23% of 16 to 24-year-olds are aware of this. Worryingly, 32% of young consumers believe “thoroughly washing raw chicken before cooking” is a good way to avoid food poisoning - the exact opposite of what the FSA advises. Overall just 43% of British consumers know not to wash raw chicken.
Awareness of the importance of thoroughly cooking chicken until “all pink bits are gone” is much better, with 80% of consumers aware. But just 63% of younger shoppers are aware of the need to cook chicken properly; and just 53% know they should wash all utensils used to handle raw chicken.
“It’s clear more work needs to be done to reinforce good habits in the kitchen,” says Richard Griffiths, director of food policy at the British Poultry Council. “The FSA has made a great start with Food Safety Week, but now we all need to renew our efforts. Good kitchen hygiene remains the simplest and easiest way to beat campylobacter.”
A spokesman for the FSA, meanwhile, says the agency’s own research suggests consumer awareness levels of campylobacter are rising.
The FSA’s work is also, he adds, designed to put pressure on the industry to reduce the levels of campylobacter on chicken before it reaches the consumer. “We are already seeing retailers starting to take action in response to the FSA’s campylobacter survey. The responsibility for managing the risk should not be left to the public alone.”
This sentiment certainly appears to be shared by many consumers. Asked whose responsibility it is to ensure food is safe to eat, the majority agree supermarkets, producers, regulators and consumers all have a role to play. Different demographics, however, once again take different views on the matter: while nearly 40% of those over 45 believe consumers have the biggest role to play in keeping their families safe from food poisoning, just 18% of 16 to 24-year-olds concur. Instead, young shoppers point the finger at retailers.
There’s a challenge to industry in these results: messages around joint responsibility may be resonating with consumers right now.
But the next generation of shoppers could well have subtly different expectations of who should be held accountable for managing their food safety.
| Thinking about meat and poultry specifically, which one of the following do you think is responsible for the most cases of food poisoning in the UK? | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gender | Age | Region | Social Grade | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | Male | Female | 16-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55+ | Scotland | North East | North West | Yorkshire | Midlands | Wales | South West | East of England | London | Southeast | Northern Ireland | AB | C1 | C2 | DE | |
| Poultry (chicken & turkey) | 71% | 67% | 75% | 51% | 57% | 72% | 78% | 81% | 72% | 73% | 69% | 72% | 70% | 66% | 83% | 81% | 55% | 76% | 63% | 75% | 73% | 74% | 66% |
| Pork | 6% | 7% | 5% | 15% | 9% | 4% | 5% | 3% | 7% | 3% | 6% | 7% | 6% | 5% | 3% | 6% | 11% | 3% | 11% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 8% |
| Beef | 3% | 5% | 1% | 7% | 4% | 4% | 1% | 1% | 3% | 1% | 3% | 2% | 1% | 5% | - | 2% | 8% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 3% |
| Lamb | 1% | 3% | 0 | 4% | 4% | 1% | 1% | - | 2% | - | 1% | 1% | 1% | - | 0 | 0 | 6% | 2% | - | 1% | 1% | 3% | 2% |
| They are all the same | 10% | 9% | 10% | 8% | 17% | 9% | 9% | 7% | 10% | 15% | 13% | 6% | 13% | 11% | 5% | 5% | 12% | 7% | 10% | 9% | 10% | 10% | 10% |
| Don’t know / not sure | 9% | 9% | 9% | 14% | 10% | 10% | 6% | 8% | 6% | 8% | 9% | 12% | 9% | 13% | 9% | 7% | 9% | 9% | 14% | 9% | 8% | 5% | 11% |
| It is the responsibility of supermarkets to ensure the meat and poultry they sell is safe | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | Age | Region | Social Grade | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | Male | Female | 16-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55+ | Scotland | North East | North West | Yorkshire | Midlands | Wales | South West | East of England | London | Southeast | Northern Ireland | AB | C1 | C2 | DE | |
| Strongly Agree | 51% | 49% | 54% | 46% | 43% | 50% | 52% | 58% | 55% | 54% | 53% | 52% | 42% | 54% | 55% | 51% | 51% | 55% | 51% | 53% | 49% | 47% | 54% |
| Agree | 35% | 35% | 35% | 30% | 37% | 37% | 37% | 34% | 35% | 34% | 32% | 33% | 41% | 31% | 35% | 37% | 35% | 32% | 34% | 37% | 37% | 37% | 32% |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 11% | 14% | 9% | 18% | 17% | 11% | 9% | 8% | 9% | 9% | 14% | 15% | 15% | 10% | 9% | 10% | 9% | 11% | 9% | 9% | 13% | 13% | 11% |
| Disagree | 1% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 0 | 0 | 1% | 2% | 1% | - | 1% | 1% | 1% | 0 | 2% | 0 | 2% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Strongly Disagree | 1% | 1% | 1% | 4% | 2% | 0 | 2% | 0 | 0 | 2% | 1% | - | 1% | 4% | - | 2% | 2% | 1% | 4% | 1% | 0 | 1% | 2% |
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