NEW ZEALAND WINNING ITS FIGTH AGAINST Campylobacter

The prevalence of the pathogen was highest in the developed world and subject to condemnation by scientists, although New Zealand's Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) maintained the cause of the problem was not fully understood.

This year, the implementation of the early stages of a risk strategy has seen the poultry industry begin to take control of the problem that blighted the country for years.

One certainty is that campylobacter occurs naturally in the gut bacteria of many birds, and so poultry meat often becomes contaminated during slaughter and processing. If the meat not cooked properly, the bacteria can cause severe human illness and even death.
n the 12 months to May 2006, there were 416 cases of human illness per 100,000 people, based on 15,553 reports, according to NZSFA statistics.
New Zealand was asked to lead, in cooperation with Sweden, the development of a new international 'Code of Hygienic Practice for Salmonella and Campylobacter in Young Chickens (Broilers) and Chicken Meat'. About 30 countries and international organisations are part of a voluntary working group, which recently met for the first time in Sweden, to decide how the code should develop.
Last year, a study by the Univesity of Otago said that the country should ban the sale of fresh chicken, which accounts for about three quarters of all chicken meat sold in New Zealand, to cut the number of people hospitalised through illness.
The NZFSA has commissioned a study, conducted by Environmental Science & Research (ESR) into the effectiveness of domestic freezing. It found that freezing reduces the numbers of campylobacter, but does not eliminate the problem, which is also dependent of the duration poultry remains frozen. Studies have also revealed an apparent difference between two campylobacter strains, which is currently being investigated.
Improvements could be made in retail practices, which the NZFSA considered "generally pretty good". Better separation, such as physical barriers, distance, time or use of dedicated equipment of areas used for processing of poultry and areas used for other foods should be implemented, it said.

Source: Food Quality News