Antibiotic resistant campylobacter found in chickens from major NZ suppliers

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Cruciblewrecker

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Topic # 185430 22-Nov-2015 17:05

Hey all,

Found this article on Stuff about a antibiotic resistant Campylobacter strain found in chickens from NZ's four major suppliers on Stuff and was wondering if those roasted ready to eat chickens are okay since they've been handled under strict food safety standards imposed by our laws on food safety and roasted until cooked through? Don't want to post link in case i violate any of the Forum Usage Guidelines but article can be found on Stuff under National News>Health.

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Reply # 1432745 22-Nov-2015 17:10

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Its Stuff so who knows how true or sensationalist it could be.

Article here.

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sbiddle

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Reply # 1432747 22-Nov-2015 17:11

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Google the topic and you'll know a lot more than simply reading a Stuff article.

Campylobacter is incredibly common in the gut of chickens - it's the reason why it's critical to cook chicken fully so it's killed. Failing to do this is the reason food borne illnesses are so common with chicken.

MikeB4

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Reply # 1432750 22-Nov-2015 17:13

sbiddle: Google the topic and you'll know a lot more than simply reading a Stuff article.

Campylobacter is incredibly common in the gut of chickens - it's the reason why it's critical to cook chicken fully so it's killed. Failing to do this is the reason food borne illnesses are so common with chicken.

Yep if it still bleeds after cooking bin it or cook longer at higher temperature

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Cruciblewrecker

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Reply # 1432751 22-Nov-2015 17:14

MikeB4: Its Stuff so who knows how true or sensationalist it could be.

Article here.

Thanks for posting the link i was a bit worried about posting a link because the Forum Usage Guidelines are not(to me) clear on posting links to news articles.

Cruciblewrecker

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Reply # 1432761 22-Nov-2015 17:18

With those roasted ready to eat chickens does the team in charge of cooking them at the supermarket check how cooked they are?

matisyahu

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Reply # 1432766 22-Nov-2015 17:29

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Cruciblewrecker: With those roasted ready to eat chickens does the team in charge of cooking them at the supermarket check how cooked they are?

Yes, they temperature check the thickest part of the meat. Truth be told most people get sick not form commercially prepared food but mainly because of a casual attitude at home regarding food safety.

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gzt

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Reply # 1432769 22-Nov-2015 17:34

stuff: though cooking and freezing can kill off the bacteria, many people contaminate their kitchens and fridges with it before that happens.

The new thing is the antibiotic resistance. I'm curious if the new strain has worse effects. The article does not say. But yeah the resistance is bad.

Cruciblewrecker

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Reply # 1432791 22-Nov-2015 17:55

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kawaii:
Cruciblewrecker: With those roasted ready to eat chickens does the team in charge of cooking them at the supermarket check how cooked they are?

Yes, they temperature check the thickest part of the meat. Truth be told most people get sick not form commercially prepared food but mainly because of a casual attitude at home regarding food safety.

Yeah makes you wonder why proper food safety lessons aren't part of cooking class at middle/high school because i did the cooking class at Albany Junior High School and the food safety lesson pretty much consisted of wash your hands properly and nothing more than that.

Hammerer

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Reply # 1432794 22-Nov-2015 18:00

kawaii:
Cruciblewrecker: With those roasted ready to eat chickens does the team in charge of cooking them at the supermarket check how cooked they are?

Yes, they temperature check the thickest part of the meat. Truth be told most people get sick not form commercially prepared food but mainly because of a casual attitude at home regarding food safety.

+1. Most people probably don't even know the minimum temperatures that different meats need to be cooked to.

When my daughter worked in a supermarket deli a decade ago, she spent a third of her time cleaning. They were very careful about hygiene because they wanted to avoid major damage to their business from contaminated or spoiled food making customers sick.

Geektastic

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Reply # 1432796 22-Nov-2015 18:05

I'm often surprised how lax home cooks are about food hygiene.

Different chopping boards for poultry, red meat, vegetables etc is a rule in my kitchen, as is hand washing before and after handling raw meat, not sharing knives between meat and vegetables etc etc.

I spent 9 days in hospital with listeriosis and would not recommend it. As a notifiable illness, we had discussions with the health wallah about where it may have come from and our best guess was KFC.

robjg63

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Reply # 1432803 22-Nov-2015 18:33

Supermarkets normally have better hygiene ratings than small independent take aways. They usually have quite well-established processes and non adherence looks very bad for the brands involved.

Chicken is nothing to worry about at home provided you cook it well. Always easy to make sure you give it a few 'extra' minutes at home - probably something to consider if you are eating out somewhere though.

As noted earlier the issue occurs when then guts gets spilled in processing - not sure there was a great deal of new info in the news items to be honest. Apparently the number of food poisoning cases from chicken has actually dropped in the last couple of years...

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mattwnz

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Reply # 1432804 22-Nov-2015 18:48

It is scary, and experts believe it is because of our overuse of antibiotics in the animals we eat. The real worry is that now in places like china, their are strains of infection that no antiboitic will kill because of this, and it is only a matter of time before we get these super bugs in NZ hospitals. Free range organic is probably the way to go, and it is likely to be cheaper than buying it at a restaurant, which won't usually be organic.

kiwigander

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Reply # 1432893 22-Nov-2015 20:33

What evidence can you show to support your contention that free range organic poultry is less likely to be contaminated with Campylobacter than other poultry?

Stuff's poorly edited article mostly confirmed what we already knew about poultry, with the worrisome new finding of resistance to multiple antibiotics among Campylobacter.

JimmyH

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Reply # 1432926 22-Nov-2015 22:13

I always err on the side of overcooking chicken a wee bit, and have a meat thermometer to check it if I'm doing a full bird etc. Tthermometers only cost a few dollars, and are worth it to make sure meat, esp poultry, is cooked and safe.

Fred99

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Reply # 1432940 22-Nov-2015 23:08

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kiwigander: What evidence can you show to support your contention that free range organic poultry is less likely to be contaminated with Campylobacter than other poultry?

Stuff's poorly edited article mostly confirmed what we already knew about poultry, with the worrisome new finding of resistance to multiple antibiotics among Campylobacter.

The article is typical - that's what we get.
There won't be evidence that free range chicken is less likely to be contaminated.
I suspect (from what little information is given) that the resistant strain has been passed back to chooks from people. They normally use bacitracin as feed converter for poultry, tetracyclines are antagonists to bacitracin, so probably not used together (if tetracycline used at all). Fluoroquinolones for poultry - I don't know but doubt it. For campylobacter, people don't usually get AB treatment (it's very very nasty, but by the time a patient presents, it's too late for AB treatment anyway). However, fluoroquinolones and/or tetracyclines are widely used with humans.

Stick to frozen chicken - or handle "fresh" chicken with extreme care. Frozen chickens were the norm a decade ago, but my casual supermarket survey tells me that many/most people buy "fresh" chicken (aka bacteria soup) these days.

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