Let us hope that Christmas has passed without too many cases of food poisoning. Poultry has been getting a bad press of late. Levels of pathogens, microbes that cause infection, appear to be out of control on raw chicken. Spread from the guts of birds to the surface areas during processing, they can cause sickness if they are not killed during the cooking process. This last fact is the one that should create the most concern. Not so much the worry – considerable for some – that we may not do the job properly and cook the bird to the right temperature, but the fact that an industry leaves it to the consumer to clear up their own mess. Imagine, for example, that a water company had a problem with contaminated water, then suggested that householders boil every drop that came out