People in Nottingham eat chicken an average of 120 times a year, a poll by the Food Standards Agency has shown.
Roast dinner is the favourite dinner to have at home with Indian style chicken curry and fried chicken making up the top three.
The poll was launched to mark Food Safety Week which runs from the 18 May – 24 May.
Nina Purcell, Director of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said: “As a country we love chicken and eat it more than any other meat.”
“However there’s one thing we don’t love about it – it can carry one of the biggest causes of food poisoning in the UK.”
Image: BBQ chicken and pepper kebab
It is estimated that over 280,000 cases of food poisoning every year can be traced to campylobacter, a germ mostly found on raw chicken.
The FSA wants to halve this figure by the end of 2015.
Nina said: “Food Safety Week this year is bringing together the whole food chain – from farmers and supermarkets through to families – to make sure they do their bit to halve the campylobacter by the end of the year.”
“If it succeeds it would mean 100,000 fewer people getting sick next year.”
Food Safety Agency advice for handling raw chicken
- Bag and store raw chicken separately from other food, covered and chilled on the bottom shelf of the fridge
- Don’t wash raw chicken as it splashes germs
- Wash everything that’s come in contact with raw chicken in soap/washing up liquid and hot water, from your hands to the chopping boards
- Check it’s cooked properly with no pink meat, steaming hot all the way through and that all juices run clear.
To support chicken safety the FSA is running a ‘Chicken’s Got Talent’ competition to find the biggest chicken fans in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
To take part you need to create an image, video, song, joke (or anything else you like) to show the world why you love chicken, post it on either Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with #ChickensGot Talent and tag a friend in the post.
Prizes include a chance to spend five days of culinary training at Leith’s School of Food and Wine.
For more information go to www.food.gov.uk/chickenchallenge.
