Consumers are more concerned over the way chickens are produced, packaged, sold and handled at home than any other food, new research has shown.
The research, carried out for the all-island Food Safety Promotion Board, found that 40 per cent of consumers surveyed shared these concerns.
The board yesterday gave chicken, when handled properly, a clean bill of health as a safe and nutritious food as the first of its series of food surveys.
The researchers also found that one of the recurring consumer concerns was connected with the country of origin of the chicken as 70 per cent of chicken used in the catering trade was sourced outside Ireland or the EU.
"Consumers regard country of origin as a key determinant in their purchase choice. Furthermore, the research found that consumers prefer chicken from the island of Ireland and would like to see information about the poultry producer clearly labelled," the Safefood report said yesterday.
"Labelling legislation does not apply to the catering stage of the food chain. Where country of origin is an important deciding factor for consumers, these findings further compound the need for a mechanism to communicate this information to consumers, allowing them to make better informed choices," said Martin Higgins, chief executive, of Safefood.
The research, carried out from a base of 1,300 consumers which were broken down into focus groups, found that while 40 per cent of consumers were concerned about chicken, only 2 per cent had similar concerns about turkey.
Chicken meat should not be washed
All utensils and surfaces that come into contact with raw chicken should be cleaned after use
Hands should be washed thoroughly after handling raw poultry meat
chicken should be cooked thoroughly until it is piping hot all the way through, the meat is no longer pink and the juices run clear
raw chicken should be stored in the refrigerator at 5 degrees Celsius or less
raw chicken should be covered when stored in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf to keep it away from ready-to-eat foods
raw chicken should be placed in separate bags or containers during transport home from the retailer
leftover chicken should always be reheated until piping hot all the way through and should never be reheated more than once
refrigerated leftover chicken should be eaten within three days