Levels of AMR Campylobacter in retail chickens remain steady

The Food Standards Agency has published the Year 3 results of a survey to identify the proportion of Campylobacter isolated from the FSA’s UK retail chicken survey that were resistant to a range of antimicrobial agents.

The survey tested a subset of the Campylobacter isolates (Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli strains) from Year 3 of the UK retail chicken survey for AMR. Analysis was carried out between August 2016 and July 2017 during which 585 Campylobacter isolates from samples of whole, UK-produced, fresh chicken were tested.

The proportions of AMR Campylobacter isolates found in this study were similar to those reported in the previous survey year (July 2015 to July 2016), although the percentage of C. coli isolates with resistance to erythromycin was lower. Multi-drug resistance was similar to that found in the previous survey years.