02.05.2020

PLOS ONE | April 29, 2020

Poultry meat is associated with the two pathogens ranked highest for health burden from food in Europe, Campylobacter and Salmonella. The contribution of the domestic setting to food borne illness is probably underestimated, but still about one third of the reported outbreaks in Europe occurred in the home setting in 2017. Among these, Salmonella was the dominating causative agent. Salmonella is introduced to European households through poultry meat occasionally and Campylobacter frequently and the safety at the consumer stage relies on kitchen practices. The results of a new study by researchers of the Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research  indicate that advice from experts is not fully adopted by consumers. Furthermore, neither the recommendations nor the present consumer practices, will ensure sufficient inactivation of pathogens if the chicken is heavily contaminated with Salmonella or Campylobacter.