New figures released by Tesco UK show that the retailer is continuing to reduce the levels of Campylobacter in its fresh chicken.
Furthermore, it has announced that it is on course to meet the industry leading target it set itself last summer, which will deliver a reduction in the presence of Campylobacter at the highest level in at least 95% of chickens by 2017.
The latest data compiled by Tesco, has found that in recent months progress has been made.
The figures show that Campylobacter at the highest level has fallen to 7% in the final quarter of 2014/15, compared to almost 9% for the previous quarter.
Group Quality Director with Tesco, Tim Smith, said that providing high quality and safe food for its customers is always Tesco’s absolute priority.
“It has long been our commitment to reduce levels of Campylobacter in our poultry and we are now seeing real progress at all stages of the supply chain and we are confident that we will meet our industry leading target next year.
“With 93% of our chickens now testing negative for the highest levels of Campylobacter, our customers can be confident of the quality and safety of the poultry we sell in our stores.”
The latest results are testament to the hard work of our suppliers and clearly demonstrate our ambition to remain at the forefront of any developments to improve the quality and safety of our chicken.
In 2014/15, Tesco consistently performed well in the Food Standards Agency (FSA) year- long survey, which monitored the levels of bacteria in poultry, and Tesco was the only major supermarket to have significantly lower levels of Campylobacter in its chicken compared to the industry average.