asda came out worst of the major retailers tested. photo nick ansellpa wirecontamination of fresh shopbought chickens has risen significantly new figures released by the food standards agency fsa show.the fsa has also named individual retailers for the first time, showing asda to have the highest number of chickens contaminated with campylobacter and tesco the least.chris choi &39shame&39 as supermarkets all miss contamination targetsasda sold the highest percentage of chickens contaminated, at 78, with 28 showing the bug above the highest level of contamination and 12 of packaging testing positive. almost threequarters of chickens 73 sold by the cooperative were contaminated.here is the full list of the major retailers testedasda 78cooperative 73morrisons 69sainsbury&39s 69waitrose 69marks & spencer 67tesco 64read more a chef&39s top tips on how to prepare and cook chicken the numbers and level of contamination. credit fsawe take campylobacter seriously and it goes without saying that we&rsquore disappointed with these findings. there is no &lsquosilver bullet&rsquo to tackle this issue, but along with other retailers, we&rsquore working hard to find a solution.we welcome the transparency of the fsa results and we are committed to food safety. we have led the industry in packaging innovation and were the first supermarket to launch roast in the bag chicken, removing the need to handle raw meat. and we continue to work with our suppliers to ensure that we are doing everything we can to reduce the chances of our customers coming into contact with campylobacter &ndash including investing in trialling a new procedure sonosteam which, if successful, we will roll out across our suppliers.we also continue to offer shoppers helpful advice on how to safely prepare and cook chicken &ndash which will kill off any trace of the bug.&ndash asda statement the fsa said the cumulative results from the first two quarters of its yearlong survey of fresh chickens found 70 tested positive for the presence of campylobacter, up from 59 in august.almost a fifth of all chickens 18 tested positive for the bug above the highest level of contamination, or 1,000 colony forming units per gram cfug, and 6 of packaging tested positive, up from 4 in august. asda came out worst of the major retailers tested. credit nick ansellpa wirethe figures mark the halfway point of a full year review which will test whole, chilled, raw, ukproduced standard, free range or organic chickens sold in packaging. the &lsquoothers&rsquo category includes supermarkets where the market share was deemed small using the 2010 kantar data, i.e. lidl, aldi, iceland, plus convenience stores, independents, butchers etc. credit fsathese results show that the food industry, especially retailers, need to do more to reduce the amount of campylobacter on fresh chickens. although we are only halfway through the survey, 18 of birds tested had campylobacter over 1000 cfug, the highest level of contamination, and more than 70 of birds had some campylobacter on them. this shows there is a long way to go before consumers are protected from this bug.if chicken is cooked thoroughly and preparation guidelines are properly followed, the risk to the public is extremely low.there are signs that some retailers are starting to step up to their responsibilities. when more do, we will see the sustained improvements that will help prevent many of their customers getting ill.&ndash steve wearne, fsa director of policycampylobacter is the most common cause of food poisoning in the uk and is believed to be responsible for more than 280,000 cases of food poisoning each year.chicken is safe as long as consumers follow good kitchen practicecover and chill raw chicken cover raw chicken and store at the bottom of the fridge so juices cannot drip on to other foods and contaminate them with food poisoning bacteria such as campylobacter.don&rsquot wash raw chicken cooking will kill any bacteria present, including campylobacter, while washing chicken can spread germs by splashing.wash used utensils thoroughly wash and clean all utensils, chopping boards and surfaces used to prepare raw chicken. wash hands thoroughly with soap and warm water, after handling raw chicken. this helps stop the spread of campylobacter by avoiding cross contamination.cook chicken thoroughly make sure chicken is steaming hot all the way through before serving. cut in to the thickest part of the meat and check that it is steaming hot with no pink meat and that the juices run clear. 
