Faccenda Foods, one of the UK’s leading food companies with a turnover of over £400m, has announced a further major investment to support their strategy to reduce campylobacter in chickens.

Following extensive testing, Faccenda are now progressing full scale trials at their factory in Brackley with a unique and innovative technology called “SonoSteam.” As part of a series of industry measures to combat campylobacter, this work will start in November 2014 and if successful Faccenda Foods have committed to invest over £1m on this new method.

The technology kills campylobacter and other micro-organisms on the skin and internal cavity of chickens through the simultaneous application of both steam and ultrasound. The steam kills the micro-organisms and the ultra-sound optimises the effect, so the process time required is only 1.5 seconds.

Faccenda Foods Managing Director Andy Dawkins commented: “The SonoSteam® technology is revolutionary in the fight against the risk of food infection.  We believe that SonoSteam can deliver a significant reduction in the number of cases of campylobacter food borne infection attributed to chicken and will lead the way in setting industry standards.”

The Food Standards Agency has been a keen supporter of this innovative approach to tackle campylobacter and achieve the 2015 campylobacter reduction target.

Commenting on the news, FSA Chief Executive Catherine Brown said: “This commitment from Faccenda is welcomed by the FSA as another important step towards reducing the risks posed by campylobacter. Faccenda have worked proactively to deliver the ‘Roast in the Bag’ initiative and this is another step in finding an effective intervention for the reduction of campylobacter levels in poultry meat. The FSA is supporting the trials at Faccenda and will provide an independent evaluation of the SonoSteam performance.”

Faccenda Foods Technical Director David Keeble said: “Following an extensive series of trials earlier this year we are excited to be taking the SonoSteam® technology to full scale trials at our Brackley factory. We look forward to working with SonoSteam, the FSA and our customers in the coming weeks as we install, run and validate this unique technology.”

SonoSteam Vice President Niels Krebs added: “We have worked closely with Faccenda on developing the technology to this point and we are confident that the next stage will demonstrate the effectiveness of this innovative approach.”

The installation of SonoSteam at Brackley follows the lead Faccenda have already taken with its award-winning range of Roast in the Bag products. These use an innovative packaging system to enable consumers to put the product straight in the oven without having to remove the packaging first, taking food safety in the kitchen to another level.