Chicken found key source of campylobacter

ABERDEEN, Scotland, May 12 (UPI) -- A U.K. agency says it has determined retail chicken is the single largest source of campylobacter food poisoning in Scotland.

The Food Standards Agency said it investigated the sources of bacterial infection to assist in the development of strategies to reduce food poisoning incidents.

Scientists led by Ken Forbes of the Department of Medical Microbiology at the University of Aberdeen said they used a molecular typing method to compare campylobacter strain types from clinical cases with those isolated from a broad range of environmental and food sources.

The agency said the investigation was the world's largest study of this kind.

The researchers said they identified retail chicken as the largest source of campylobacter food poisoning in Scotland and suggested cattle and sheep might also be infection sources.

The research is to be presented a June 17 "dissemination event" to inform stakeholders of the findings.