The sequencing will be conducted on isolates archived from the Infectious Intestinal Disease 1(IID1 1993-1996) and Infectious Intestinal Disease 2 (IID2 2008-2009) studies.

The FSA said theCampylobacter genome sequencing will be part of the agency’s commitment to develop and implement a risk management programme to reduce campylobacter in chicken as part of our foodborne strategy.

“Sequencing the whole genome for the unique and valuable collection of campylobacter isolates archived from the IID1 and IID2 studies, will provide key information for isolates representative of the UK population,” the agency said.

“It will also provide important reference points for ongoing work in the UK, in campylobacter infections and changes in these organisms.”

The FSA added that Campylobacter continues to be the most commonly reported bacterial cause of infectious intestinal disease in the UK and the leading cause of bacterial food poisoning.

The majority of infection is caused by Campylobacter jejuni, while the remainder is caused by Campylobacter coli and other minor species.

“There are many risk factors for campylobacter, but research suggests that 60 to 80 per cent of clinical infections may be attributed to food poisoning caused by the handing or consumption of raw/undercooked chicken,” the FSA said.

In the sequencing project, the research team will be expected to characterise these human isolates in detail by next generation sequencing, using an appropriate platform.

The resulting sequence data will have to be analysed to derive multi locus sequence types and identification of other genes, which may be relevant to characterising the genomic diversity of campylobacter in the UK population.

The results will be placed in the public domain for use by other researchers.

Now, the agency has called for tenders for the project.