专家建议把鸡冻了再吃以防食物中毒

Freezing meat once it is home from the supermarket could kill deadly bugs.

The process of freezing meat kills up to 90 percent of campylobacter cells.

Campylobacter bugs can cause stomach upsets, vomiting and diarrhoea.

Families should freeze and defrost chicken if they want to avoid food poisoning, a health chief said yesterday.

Six in every 10 chickens sold by supermarkets contain potentially lethal bugs that infect half a million people a year.

Around 100 of the victims die from vomiting and stomach upsets.

For decades, retailers and officials have known that campylobacter is rife on poultry farms but have failed to take action.

Instead an official at Public Health England suggests consumers can help protect themselves by freezing chicken after purchase and thoroughly defrosting it before cooking.

Frieda Jorgensen said: ‘Consumers will reduce their exposure of campylobacter if they eat frozen chicken instead of fresh chicken.’

Thoroughly cooking poultry makes it safe but the disease still infects a huge number of people, costing the British economy an estimated £9million a year in health costs and missed work hours.

The freezing process adds an extra level of security in the event of undercooked meat.

Dr Jorgensen added: ‘Freezing does bring about a reduction in the number of campylobacter cells.

‘We believe that they can reduce them by 90 per cent by undertaking this freezing process.

'Reducing the number of campylobacter cells on the chicken can matter in terms of the public health risk.’

However, consumer groups said retailers should take responsibility for the safety of their food.

‘It’s a complete cop-out to try to put responsibility on consumers to have to clean up poor practices caused earlier in the food supply chain,’ said Richard Lloyd, of consumer group Which?

‘The Food Standards Agency, retailers and poultry producers need to make lowering campylobacter levels a much greater priority.

‘The poultry industry must also clean up its act and be more accountable and transparent.’

一回家就把从超市买的肉制品冷冻起来可以杀灭其中致命的病菌。

冷冻的过程中可杀灭高达90%的弯曲杆菌（campylobacter）细胞。

弯曲杆菌病毒会诱发肠胃不适、呕吐、腹泻这些症状。

11月17日，英国一位卫生部官员称，如果想要避免食物中毒，家庭在食用鸡肉前应该把鸡肉先冷冻再解冻。

超市售卖的鸡肉当中，10只有6只都携带潜在的致命病菌——每年有50万人因此染病。

大约有100名受害者因呕吐和肠胃不适而丧命。

几十年来，零售商和政府虽然知晓家禽农场里弯曲杆菌的猖獗，但依旧对此无能为力。

然而，英国公共安全局（Public Health England）的官员指出，在购买了鸡肉之后，顾客可以通过自行冷冻并在食用前完全解冻以免受其害。

弗里达·约根森（Frieda Jorgensen）说道：“如果顾客食用冷冻鸡肉而不是新鲜鸡肉，那么便可以降低染上弯曲杆菌的风险。”

经过完全烹饪后的鸡肉已较为安全，但疾病仍然感染了很多人。英国每年在这一问题上的花费都接近900万英镑，同时也造成了大量的误工现象。

对生肉进行冷冻的过程将食品的安全提升了一个层次。

约根森博士补充道：“冷冻可以降低弯曲杆菌的数量。”

“我们相信，通过冷冻可以减少其中90%的病菌。”

“减少鸡肉中弯曲杆菌的含量有助于化解公共健康危机。”

然而，顾客们却反驳说，零售商应该对食品安全负责。

“试图将责任推卸到顾客身上，这是一种彻底的逃避，目的是为了掩盖食品供应链的不良操作。”一名叫理查德·劳埃德（Richard Lloyd）的顾客说道。

“食品标准机构（The Food Standards Agency）、零售商和生产商应当把减少弯曲杆菌作为首要任务。

“家禽养殖业必须整顿行业内工作，变得更加负责和透明。”