Roast dinners come top of the menu for chicken fans in Wales

People in Wales eat chicken an average of 121 times per year, well ahead of any other meat, a poll to mark Food Safety Week 2015 (18th- 24th May) has found. Chicken is the favourite meat for 54% of people in Wales, more than every other type of meat put together.

Welsh residents are most likely to be found tucking into a traditional chicken roast dinner at home, with 61% of people in Wales listing this as their favourite chicken based meal. A chicken curry is favoured by 41% with chicken fajitas in a distant third place, picked by just 15% of people.

While in England the favoured chicken dinner is Chinese, in Wales it’s a chicken roast dinner which tops the list of favourite chicken meals when eating out (34%), just beating Chinese into second place (32%). An Indian meal out made it to third place with 30% of the vote.

Chinese has made the top spot for takeaways, favoured by 51% of people. This is followed by Indian at 38% and fried chicken, preferred by 29% of people.

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 in Wales, 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 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).

Visit www.food.gov.uk/chickenchallenge for more information and to get involved.