Three-year surveillance program examining the prevalence of Campylobacter and Salmonella in whole retail raw chicken.

A 36-month study of Campylobacter and Salmonella in retail raw whole chicken was carried out to measure baseline rates at the retail level, establish seasonality, and observe changes in rates over time. In total, 2,228 samples were taken between November 2001 and December 2004. The Campylobacter rate was unchanged over the 3 years of the study, but the Salmonella rates declined significantly between 2001 and 2004. There was also some seasonality in Campylobacter rates in fresh samples. The overall conclusion from the study was that the Salmonella rate in raw chicken available to consumers in Wales fell significantly between 2001 and 2004, while the Campylobacter rate remained unchanged and is still by far the greater problem.