Shoppers warned over contaminated chickens

Consumers have been warned to check their freezers for certain chicken products from the North after they were found to contained…

Consumers have been warned to check their freezers for certain chicken products from the North after they were found to contained a banned pharmaceutical medicine.

People are being warned not to eat certain batches of organic free-range chicken from the Northern Ireland producer Moy Park - sold in Tesco, Superquinn and Dunnes, after they were found to contain a banned veterinary medicine

Traces of a nitrofuran, a banned veterinary medicine, were found in certain batches of fresh chicken during routine tests carried out by the North's Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (DARD).

The FSA said Moy Park was co-operating with an investigation by DARD officials
into the source of the contamination.  It is illegal under EU law to use nitrofurans in food processing animals because it could increase people's risk of getting cancer.

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However, the health risk from eating the chicken is considered low because the danger comes with exposure to the drug over the long term.

A 4,500 birds may have been contaminated by the banned drug.

The affected batches are at Tesco supermarkets, chicken or chicken pieces in the range with use-by dates of 10th, 11th, 12th October; at Superquinn, chicken or chicken pieces with a use-by date of 8th, 11th or 12th October; and at Dunnes, chicken or chicken pieces with a use-by date of 8th, 10th, 12th October.