Freezing meat once it is home from the supermarket could kill deadly bugs.
The process of freezing meat kills up to 90 percent of campylobacter cells.
Campylobacter bugs can cause stomach upsets, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Families should freeze and defrost chicken if they want to avoid food poisoning, a health chief said yesterday.
Six in every 10 chickens sold by supermarkets contain potentially lethal bugs that infect half a million people a year.
Around 100 of the victims die from vomiting and stomach upsets.
For decades, retailers and officials have known that campylobacter is rife on poultry farms but have failed to take action.
Instead an official at Public Health England suggests consumers can help protect themselves by freezing chicken after purchase and thoroughly defrosting it before cooking.
Frieda Jorgensen said: ‘Consumers will reduce their exposure of campylobacter if they eat frozen chicken instead of fresh chicken.’
Thoroughly cooking poultry makes it safe but the disease still infects a huge number of people, costing the British economy an estimated £9million a year in health costs and missed work hours.
The freezing process adds an extra level of security in the event of undercooked meat.
Dr Jorgensen added: ‘Freezing does bring about a reduction in the number of campylobacter cells.
‘We believe that they can reduce them by 90 per cent by undertaking this freezing process.
'Reducing the number of campylobacter cells on the chicken can matter in terms of the public health risk.’
However, consumer groups said retailers should take responsibility for the safety of their food.
‘It’s a complete cop-out to try to put responsibility on consumers to have to clean up poor practices caused earlier in the food supply chain,’ said Richard Lloyd, of consumer group Which?
‘The Food Standards Agency, retailers and poultry producers need to make lowering campylobacter levels a much greater priority.
‘The poultry industry must also clean up its act and be more accountable and transparent.’一回家就把從超市買的肉制品冷凍起來可以殺滅其中致命的病菌。
冷凍的過程中可殺滅高達(dá)90%的彎曲桿菌(campylobacter)細(xì)胞。
彎曲桿菌病毒會(huì)誘發(fā)腸胃不適、嘔吐、腹瀉這些癥狀。
11月17日,英國一位衛(wèi)生部官員稱,如果想要避免食物中毒,家庭在食用雞肉前應(yīng)該把雞肉先冷凍再解凍。
超市售賣的雞肉當(dāng)中,10只有6只都攜帶潛在的致命病菌——每年有50萬人因此染病。
大約有100名受害者因嘔吐和腸胃不適而喪命。
幾十年來,零售商和政府雖然知曉家禽農(nóng)場里彎曲桿菌的猖獗,但依舊對(duì)此無能為力。
然而,英國公共安全局(Public Health England)的官員指出,在購買了雞肉之后,顧客可以通過自行冷凍并在食用前完全解凍以免受其害。
弗里達(dá)·約根森(Frieda Jorgensen)說道:“如果顧客食用冷凍雞肉而不是新鮮雞肉,那么便可以降低染上彎曲桿菌的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。”
經(jīng)過完全烹飪后的雞肉已較為安全,但疾病仍然感染了很多人。英國每年在這一問題上的花費(fèi)都接近900萬英鎊,同時(shí)也造成了大量的誤工現(xiàn)象。
對(duì)生肉進(jìn)行冷凍的過程將食品的安全提升了一個(gè)層次。
約根森博士補(bǔ)充道:“冷凍可以降低彎曲桿菌的數(shù)量。”
“我們相信,通過冷凍可以減少其中90%的病菌。”
“減少雞肉中彎曲桿菌的含量有助于化解公共健康危機(jī)。”
然而,顧客們卻反駁說,零售商應(yīng)該對(duì)食品安全負(fù)責(zé)。
“試圖將責(zé)任推卸到顧客身上,這是一種徹底的逃避,目的是為了掩蓋食品供應(yīng)鏈的不良操作。”一名叫理查德·勞埃德(Richard Lloyd)的顧客說道。
“食品標(biāo)準(zhǔn)機(jī)構(gòu)(The Food Standards Agency)、零售商和生產(chǎn)商應(yīng)當(dāng)把減少彎曲桿菌作為首要任務(wù)。
“家禽養(yǎng)殖業(yè)必須整頓行業(yè)內(nèi)工作,變得更加負(fù)責(zé)和透明。”
(譯者 490252028 編輯 丹妮)