Feel like chicken tonight? Beware!
People in Plymouth eat chicken an average of 101 times per year, a poll to mark Food Safety Week (the 18th-24th May) - has found. Residents are most likely to be found tucking into a traditional chicken roast dinner at home, with Indian style chicken curry and Mexican style chicken fajitas making up the top three.
The poll by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) also found that amongst the city’s restaurants, Chinese chicken has made the top spot, favoured by 34% of people in Plymouth. For takeaways, Chinese chicken was also the favourite, preferred by 52%.
Across the country, the traditional roast chicken dinner is the favourite chicken dish to cook or eat at home. However, international influences are playing a large part in our habits, with chicken curry favoured by over a third of diners (35%).
There’s just one problem – if mishandled or undercooked, eating chicken can lead to food poisoning, which makes an estimated 280,000 people ill every year. The results have been released by the FSA to mark Food Safety Week 2015, and the launch of the ‘Chicken Challenge’ – the aim to reduce campylobacter food poisoning by half by the end of 2015.
Nina Purcell, Director of the Food Standards Agency, commented: “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.
“Food Safety Week this year is bringing together the whole food chain – from farmers and supermarkets through to families – to make sure everyone does their bit to halve campylobacter by the end of this year. If it succeeds, it would mean 100,000 fewer people getting sick next year. Even if you think you’re doing everything right in the kitchen, take a moment to remind yourself of the ‘chicken rules’ to continue keeping your family safe - and spread the word, not the germs.”
The FSA is asking people to:
Bag and store raw chicken separately from other food, covered and chilled on the bottom shelf of the fridge
Don't wash raw chicken: it splashes germs
Wash everything that’s come in contact with raw chicken properly in soap and hot water, from your hands to chopping boards and any utensils
Check it's cooked properly, with no pink meat, steaming hot all the way through, and that the juices run clear
To turn up the volume in support of the humble chicken and how to enjoy it safely, the FSA is calling all chicken fans to take part in their ‘Chicken’s Got Talent’ competition to find the biggest chicken fans in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
To take part, all you need to do is:
1. Create an image, video, song, joke (or anything else you like) to show the world why you love chicken
2. Post your entry on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using #ChickensGotTalent
3. Nominate a friend to get involved by @mentioning them when you post up your entry.
There are great prizes to be won which will make your chicken dinner worth crowing about. The winner will win an amazing once in a lifetime chance to spend five days perfecting their culinary skills at Leith’s School of Food and Wine (travel and accommodation included).
