Turkeys on a farm in south-east France are infected with the highly pathogenic H5 strain of bird flu, the French Agriculture Minister has confirmed today.

Dominique Bussereau said more tests were needed to determine if the strain involved was the deadly H5N1. If confirmed, it would be the first time the disease had spread to poultry stocks in France, which is the European Union's largest poultry producer.

On Thursday, authorities sealed off a farm with more than 11,000 turkeys in the southeastern Ain region, the same area where France's first two cases of the deadly virus — in two wild ducks — were confirmed.

"The suspicion that we had yesterday, which brought us to first cull the animals and then destroy them, was unfortunately confirmed this morning," M Bussereau told France-2 television.

Confirmation of H5N1 would deal a further blow to France's already battered poultry industry, worth €6 billion (£4 billion) a year and the biggest in the EU.

Local sources said that around 80 per cent of the birds at the farm, which has more than 11,000 birds and is in a region famous for the quality of its chickens, had already died. All remaining turkeys were to be culled, the ministry said on Thursday.

A security zone of three km (two miles) and a surveillance zone of seven km (five miles) had been set up around the farm as is usual under European Union emergency measures, officials say.

Dominique de Villepin, the French Prime Minister, has announced a government aid package worth €52 million (£35 million) for the poultry sector to cope with the crisis.

In London, emergency services chiefs met at the Cabinet Office yesterday to discuss plans for a human bird flu pandemic in Britain. Police, fire, health and ambulance chiefs were warned by Bruce Mann, head of the civil contingencies unit, that as many as 30 per cent of their staff could be missing from work during a pandemic.

At a separate conference, company bosses were urged to agree new staff employment contracts and make clear what would be expected of their workforces during a pandemic. They were told that failure to do so could result in a big increase in employment tribunals and legal action if staff were dismissed for staying away from work.

Dan Cooper, an employment lawyer, urged companies to be reasonable and also to ensure safety for staff at work.

There was some relief among world health experts, meanwhile, that 11 out of the 12 suspected cases of human bird flu in the Indian state of Maharashtra had proved negative. The 12th person was being subjected to further tests.

The authorities in India are so concerned that the virus could spread through the millions of people who live next to their chickens that the remote town of Navapur is virtually sealed off. Trains and cars are banned from stopping there.

The lethal H5N1 strain has killed more than 90 people worldwide since 2003, although the infection has come from close contact with poultry and there have been no cases of human-to-human transmission.

In the Netherlands, officials are to offer vaccines to five million birds on free-range farms and three million birds on hobby farms. The French plan to vaccinate some 900,000 ducks and geese kept outdoors in three regions in the South West deemed at most risk of the disease because of migration.

It is possible that vaccinated meat will be sold for consumption in Britain, although there will be no mention of vaccine on food labels.

Peter Bradnock, chief executive of the British Poultry Council, said: "There is almost certain to be some supplies of vaccinated meat coming into the country. We already have established trade with France and the Netherlands. It is likely to go into ready meals or be sold by wholesalers for the catering trade, restaurants, pubs and takeaways."

Kevin Hawkins, director- general of the British Retail Council, which represents leading supermarkets, was convinced that the meat would not be sold in the leading chains.

"The retailers will wish to shore up confidence in chicken sales and will not damage customer confidence by mixing meat from vaccinated birds with their normal supplies," he said.

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