As many as nine-out-of-ten chickens in Switzerland are infected with campylobacter, prompting the Federal Veterinary Office to call a crisis meeting of food and health experts, as well as poultry producers, for December 18.

According to a report in the Sunday newspaper, SonntagsZeitung, the veterinary office was surprised by the results of the unpublished study, expecting only half as many chickens to have been infected with the bacteria.

Most cases of campylobacteriosis are associated with eating raw or undercooked poultry meat or from cross-contamination of other foods by these items.