Hygiene alert over chicken

People who wash whole chickens before cooking them are increasing the risk of food poisoning for themselves and their households, a consumer watchdog warns today.

An estimated three-quarters of consumers who buy whole chickens wash them, potentially spreading bacteria on to surrounding surfaces, research by Which? has revealed.

Recent figures from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) suggest that 65 per cent of raw shop-bought chicken is contaminated with campylobacter, the most common identified cause of food poisoning in the UK.