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From Times Online

February 9, 2007

Bernard Matthews admits 'possible' Hungarian bird flu link

Sam Knight and Valerie Elliott, Countryside Editor

Bernard Matthew turkey products may have to be withdrawn from the shelves in an effort to prevent bird flu spreading.

Even though the meat, if properly cooked, poses no risk to human health the Food Standards Agency is investigating whether turkey meat infected with avian flu has entered Britain's shops because of the risk of the disease being passed to other animals.

The agency said it was keen to remove products carrying the virus from the food chain to stop its transfer to Britain's wild bird population.

"The investigation has just begun," said a spokesman. "If we find infected meat at the end of the food chain we will take appropriate action because it would be illegal."

This evening the Sainsbury's supermarket chain reported a 10 per cent fall in poultry sales this week, although the retailer said that the poor weather could have been to blame.

News of the investigation came as the Government's chief scientist said that Britain's first case of the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu, discovered at a Bernard Matthews farm in Suffolk last week, was probably brought to the country in a delivery of turkey meat from Hungary.

Bernard Matthews, Britain's largest turkey producer, imports 37 tonnes of partly-processed turkey meat from Hungary every week but has strenuously denied bringing in any poultry from a region of the country where H5N1 was found late last month.

But today the company was confronted by the news that the DNA of the virus found in the UK is a near identical match with the recent Hungarian strain, leading Sir David King, the Government’s chief scientist, to say that infection from Hungary was the "most likely scenario".

Earlier this week, Bernard Matthews, a £400-million-a-year business, said there "wasn’t a remote possibility" of its products being infected by the Hungarian outbreak. But since then the company has come under scrutiny for allegedly leaving processed poultry outside its sheds and for possible lapses in "bio-security" at its farm at Holton.

Ben Bradshaw, the Animal Welfare minister, declined to comment on the alleged breaches today "because it’s possible that legal action could follow".

Sir David said his immediate concern was to find out whether the bird flu infection, which has led to the culling of 160,000 birds, had managed to spread beyond the confines of the Bernard Matthews farm. If the virus managed to spread from partly-processed turkey meat brought from Hungary, it was necessary to find out whether it could spread from other turkey products now on their way to supermarket shelves.

"I think that is exactly what the Food Standards Agency will be looking at now," he told Channel 4 News this evening.

"That sort of direct transfer is my biggest worry at the moment because the transfer could occur through, for example, wild animals and wild birds so the real concern now is whether or not the virus is isolated to the birds that have been culled or whether it has moved beyond that," he said.

"My bigger worry is that it might have got into the wild bird population. We need to keep a very close eye on that."

News of the likely spread of bird flu through the lorries and battery farms of Britain's £3.4 billion poultry industry led to statements from organic farmers and environmental groups today.

The Soil Association, which represents and advises organic farmers, said it was time to stop suggesting that wild and free-range birds remain the most likely vectors of the disease:

"Such claims...have the whiff of vested interests seeking to divert attention from the international movement of eggs, birds and poultry products as a key suspect in the global spread and exacerbation of the disease," the group said.

Meanwhile the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the country's largest wildlife conservation charity, reported that it had seen no sign of a gradual spread of the H5N1 strain through wild bird migration across Europe this winter.

While bird flu has had many negative effects and certainly still has from the point of view of Bernard Matthews, some good things are to be gained. The issue has made people more aware of intensive poulty rearing, an area in which many people are vague about: yes they suppose they want to stop the cruelty, but not enough to give up turkey burgers..
Bernard Matthews profits at the expense of turkey's wellbeing, and this is the chance to dent his armour by showing our consumer power, and buying free range, local produce.
Unfortunately that would only be beneficial in the long run for turkeys, as while Bernard Matthews lose money they might try to cut corners on their turkey farms and squeeze some more money in by importing from somewhere cheaper, or cramming a few hundred more turkeys in to those dark sheds.
Nevertheless the consumer has the power, and as the awareness of factory farming grows, i really hope that the amount of people buying free range will increase.

Sophie Graham, Sevenoaks, England

i think this is the price you pay for factory farming animals and eating them

Frank, London,

Ben Bradshaw stated on national Television that restrictions and the correct rules controlling movement of birds were only in the infected area and imediate surroundings.

Perhaps Mr Bradshaw would like to explain as these are the rules why his Government in a knee jerk reaction banned on saturday all UK bird shows which directly affected finacially the perfectly legal procedures of running a bird show.

Furthermore most if not all show birds were bred in captivity in the UK and kept in caged conditions so there was absolutely no possibility of any bird carrying bird flu.
As with ducks and geese being able to carry bird flu H5N1 with no clinical signs the mortality rate with other species in 100% and any sick birds would not have been taken to any show for obvious reasons.
Of even greater concern is that these very same Government Officials are controlling the future of animal keeping in this Country with the new Animal Welfare Bill.
It should be asked is Mr Bradshaw and the Labour Government working for the interests of this Country or mere puppets on the payroll from Brussells.

It is ironic that other Countries imediately drop UK produce at the slightest oportunity yet Labour continue to trade all too openly.

Andrew Meads, Kettering, England

Thankfully I rear and eat all my own poultry - I dont have to buy that minging stuff that is laughingly passed off as turkey and chicken which tastes no better than mashed MDF ! I am frankly fed up with the constant 'cover ups' that have taken place - it has been obvious to many of us small time poultry keepers that there was something decidedly sniffy about the BM flu outbreak and were questioning the Hungarian link over a week ago. Now, finally, it is being investigated. I think all BM products should be withdrawn from the shops - better to chuck out safe food than risk just one person or animal/bird becoming infected by unsafe food. The sticky stuff is really starting to hit the fan.

Faith Bowman, Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire

Immediate boycott of all their products! If found out that they compromise the safety of the general public by cutting corners then they should fined heavily and certain directors brought to account even prison terms should not be discounted. God forbid if the bird flu virus ever came into contact with the common influenza virus then help us all.

Unfortunately Britain will be look (again) like a dirty, shifty meat trader. After BSE and foot and mouth people aboard will avoid British meat now. Our reputation proceeds us.

Norman, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear

Free movement of meat products between EU member states is perfectly legal provided that various health requirements have been met. Importportation of meat from non EU countries is also possible with importation certificates etc. Meat from outside the UK is now a fact of life due to the continued pressure of Tesco, Asda and the like who continually strive to force prices down. They do not recognise inflationary costs of production and suppliers are forced to either go out of business or import from lower cost producers such as Brazil, Thailand, Poland etc. More worrying is that imported meat then processed and packed here is then sold as produce of the UK, hiding its true country of origin.

N Simons, Dereham, UK

I'm glad I don't eat meat. At least I've only got banned pesticide residues and genetically modified products to contend with.

Barb, Cheshire, England

Its all the fault of factory farming.Keeping
thousands of turkeys in such a small space is cruel when
we have so much land available

james higson, manchesterengland, england

I seems to me that any Govt. or Co. that knowingly puts the safety of the populous at dire risk should be charged with manslaughter & made to serve the time like the common criminal. .

G.Davies, Victoria, Canada

"Government sources ruled out any concerns for the moment about any worker bringing the virus to the UK on shoes or boots. The company is likely to face legal action for breaches of biosecurity rules. "

Who is considering blaming any worker fro bringing the virus to the UK?
and
which worker would this be? Portuguese?
Why has the situation of workers at the factory disappear from the media?

Why has been the whole thing so staged and dealt with as a matter beyond public scrutinity?

Petterson, Toronto, Canada

How many of the public assume that when buying the Burnard Matthews brand, they were buying Britsh poultry? It certainly doesn't say produce of Hungary on the labels. We should be supporting British farmers first, not importing cheap meat from Europe. Meat imports (by the British Army in all probability) started the Foot and Mouth outbreak - we haven't learned the lesson from that.

Polly Gratwick, devon,

"Further tests are being made on carcasses in a pile of processed poultry waste found outside the plant."

So they imported diseased turkeys from an exclusion zone in Hungary, and left the ones they didnt use on a heap so that rodents and birds can get at them.

Lets just bear that in mind when the first wild birds start dying at Mimsmere and the intensive poultry industry starts clamouring for culls of wild birds.

I expect they will soon be bleating about compensation for loss of sales & laying people off without pay etc.

Keith , Bristol, UK

Well it looks like another profit before safety.
When I listen to governmental officials saying it is safe to eat poultry if well cooked, I understand that, “sick birds are on the shelves ready to be consumed.
I now wonder, how sick were the birds that were sold for the infamous Christmas Turkey?
"Just keep it quiet until end of January, so that we can make our profit!"

That just reminds me of my last experience of Salmonella from a chicken sandwich.
1/ The GPs didn't recognise the illness and left me to suffer like hell for 10 days between the loo and the bed.
2/ After a few days of hell getting worse, I took the initiative to get some stool sample tested that a friend dropped at my local surgery.
3/ Never received any results or got anything from anybody despite some calls.
4/ Finally, 3 month later I received a call from a health and safety agency whose only concern was to find out where I got that poisoning from.
Oh I had salmonella? Why didn't you tell me earlier?... Couldn't I die from that stuff?...Soory mate, I didn't buy that sandwich myself and you called 3 month too late.
Officially their subsequent search for the source of contamination went nowhere!

I am a well-travelled person, lived for long periods of time with tribes in remote corners of the planet. I never got any illness from a wide range of food. But in the UK I got poisoned now twice. That reminds me of other travellers telling me that if I have survived living in the UK, I am probably going to survive anywhere else.

BSE, Foot and Mouth, and now the poultry bizz. (I probably miss some)
I can't wait for the fishes to get sick.
The politicians will "Carry On Telling Us Everything Is Fine", just as they did when nanogrammes of polonium 210 was visiting the capital.
What a joke!!
Not really

Laurent, London, England

Intensive poultry farming - disgusting!

Roger Brown, Riscle, Framce

Here here to Gary's comments.

David Turner, Leeds, England

The main danger to the poultry industry in this country is greed, bad management and a slave like subservience to the supermarkets who continually demand cheap meat at any cost. Finally after laying the blame at the captive bird keepers door andthe wild bird population we find backdoor deals within the poultry trade to blame for the first major incident. Will it be the last?

Andy F, London, UK

The likelihood of a new and devastating form of human influenza stemming from the current H5N1 avaian variant is primarily a functiuon of the number of interactions between humans and infected birds.

The majority of these interactions do not occur in the controlled intensive farming environments in the developed world but instead occur in China and South East Asia where humans and poultry often live side by side.

We have little scope to control farming practices in these countries and would probably be better advised to concentrate on the developement of more effective vaccines that will be required when the eventual, and inevitable human flu pandemic strikes.

You have only to look at the record of past pandemics to see that they occur with predictable and frequency.

Steve, Reading, UK

If these turkeys are flying in from Hungary, they must surely be bypassing our coastal defences. Why isn't Miliband on the blower to the top brass at the MoD to organise some ack-ack installations along the Thames estuary and around the Wash? If the birds are flying in unknown to the radar - and to be honest, I'm doubtful about the 'stealth' capability of a 28 pound Hungarian bronze - then what's wrong with spotter planes patrolling the eastern seaboard and the Dover straits. We managed to keep Gerry out during the 2nd lot. So surely it's not beyond the wit of man to repel a flock of over-sized chickens already made weak by a dose of the flu.

Robert, Brighton,

It does not MATTER that cooked meat poses no HUMAN threat because the wrappings on the uncooked meat get binned, and hence available to wildlife which can then be infected..

Surely the precautionary principle demands that Matthews' turkey be recalled immediately.

Ken Belcher, Chicago, IL

How very coincicental that on Friday the 2nd February 2007 I rang the environental health to advise that for the second time I had eaten some bernard matthews turkey escalope and had severe stomach ache that night with shivers (and this had happened to me once before with same type of turkey escalope just before xmas day) . I am not 100% certain that it was the escalope but was only one of two things I had eaten . Environmental health (Surrey) promised to collect the escalope testing yet as at today Friday 9th February I have seen neither hide nor "feather" of them . Oh well no need to worry as it probably only H5N1, lol.

Alan Stepney, Woking, Surrey

What about the other cases of the virus in the uk?
..The incidents of avian influenza in Cellardyke in Scotland and Dereham in Norfolk in April 2006, as well the outbreak of Newcastle Disease in East Lothian in October 2006. Mentioned at Drefra’s website - Disease control: Contingency Plan for Exotic Animal Diseases, December 2006.

One more time, capitalism, power, ignorance and fear, show themselves as the worst dangerous enemy for all the living beings on this planet, on this solar system, on this universe and universes far beyond... There is no scape, It is scary!

This is not new, so then, why it keep still happening? ..nobody move a finger!! Like the shocking surprise on 2005 of the colorant Sudan1 in so many food products. We had the chance to tackle all this disloyalties, but don't goes more far what just one bad news more!
Honestly, I'm typing this with tears in my eyes.. What a terrible frustation! Who is the responsible of this? ¬¬

Mr. Matthews, you are ruined and deeply sink!!

Kida Gakash, Bristol, England

Sue from Mcr. How pious and GOOD you are? *rolls eyes* ...do you think the couple of thousand of Chinese and Indonesians who have died to have deserved it? How do you propose people in the third world get their protein as a matter of interest? Should they eat cake ?

Greg, London,

An excellent opportunity for consumers. Forget whether or not this is fair on BM, and stop buying their products anyway. If other manufacturers see that a health scare can destroy their business, they will be forced to clean up their own act and improve quality control.

Geoff Mortimer, Maranello, Italy

Kida Gakash, Bristol, England

You reap what you sow. While people continue to slaughter, torture and eat the flesh of anmals, they must expect some payback. I might not be able to eat your bacon sandwich, wear leather clothes or drink milk, but I live in the knowledge that my conscience is clear.

Sue, Manchester, England

as someone has already said,these chicks are in horrible
conditions,and on TV we saw them being KICKED by people
who were near the open sheds.

I for one will not be buying any more TURKEY MEAT.

JOE EATON, BIRMINGHAM.REDNAL., W/MIDLANDS.

So despite everything we learned (from BSE) about the dangers of rearing non-meat eating animals on animal products - Mathews appears to have been feeding turkey to turkeys! When will the large scale food manufacturers learn?

Morag, London, UK

It is established that industrial farming encourages avian flu - n Vietnam, where avain flu is most entrenched the birds which have a degree of freedom and normal life resist the bug for the most part.
We need to eat less meat but demand heathly production methods.

Jef Mason, CARLA-BAYLE,

Importation of meat from third countries is no secret. All major producers and several specialist importers bring cheap meat to this country every day to fufil the UK's demand for cheap food. Supermarkets will not give UK producers fair returns and force them to either shut up shop or source meat from cheaper oversees producers.

N Simons, Dereham, UK

A Bernard Matthews van was seen outside Superdrug in Hull on Friday morning - possibly sourcing some Lemsip for the remaining Turkeys...

Jon Blythe, Leeds, Yorkshire

At least all of the prime time t.v news reports are showing everyone the grisly conditions that turkeys are reared in for our consumption.

If Matthews factory farms were supposed to be the best how bad are the others ?

Bill Stokes, Derby, England

"Conservationists had insisted that it was impossible to blame the arrival of the H5N1 virus into commercial poultry on wild birds, when not one bird had been found with the disease in the UK or northern Europe. "

Actually one wild bird did have bird flu in the UK, the one found last year in Fife Scotland!

Helen, Edinburgh,

The whole episode is just further evidence that intensive farming, as well as the unnecessary transportation of livestock or meat, has a high price attached; both in terms of human health and animal welfare.

This type of farming was originally called 'Animal Husbandry', but now we have 'Animal Processing'.
We (as a society) deserve all that we reap from the pursuit of ecomomic gain from peddling "old" meat that is reared inhumanely!

John Robinson, London, England

The details of Bernard Matthews illegal imports were withheld on grounds of "commercial confidentiality". Frankly, its not good enough. They were breaking the law for profit and endangering the health of the country to boost returns for their shareholders. The directors should be held responsible and should be charged for their actions. In addition, the company itself to needs to be heavily fined for this. Anything less than the above will be taken as a tacit acceptance of this outrageous and unacceptable behaviour.

Andrew May, London,

I assume that if it is proven that Bernard Mattew's company broke the rules about importing turkey meat from Hungary they would not be eligible for compensation of the slaughtered turkeys and would also have to pay Defra for any expenses occurred as a result of their alleged negligence. It would also be interesting to find out what 'country of origin' is printed on the packaging of these imported turkeys.

a.veen, london,

Good riddance to Bernard Mathews Ltd and all other intensive poultry farms. They had it coming.

Gary Loch, Llaneithan, Pembrokeshire

So the secret is out. 37 tonnes of partly processed turkeys have been arriving in Britain from Bernard Matthews Hungarian plants every week and apparently they have just found out??? Says a lot for border control and customs doesn't it!

Stephen Gilmour, Cambrige, England