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Face the Facts: Campylobacter - the 'silent epidemic'

16/01/2013

Campylobacter - the 'silent epidemic'

BBC Radio 4 - Face the Facts, Campylobacter - the 'silent epidemic'

John Waite asks what is being done to tackle this threat to public health.

Cases of Campylobacter, the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK, are increasing. John Waite asks what is being done to tackle this threat to public health.

It's the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK, said to be responsible for more than 500,000 cases a year and the highest proportion of hospitalisations. And cases of Campylobacter are on the increase. Experts say the cost and burden of the disease is unacceptably high. And with the most recent surveys suggesting that 65 per cent of chickens at retail sale in the UK are now contaminated with the bacteria, what part can the poultry industry play in helping to lower levels? John Waite investigates why Campylobacter has proved such a difficult organism to understand and control. Why have efforts by the Food Standards Agency and others not achieved a sustained reduction in incidents, and what is now being done to reduce this growing risk to public health? 

Producer: Katy Takatsuki.

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