The turkey tycoon Bernard Matthews broke his silence last night over the bird flu outbreak to deny responsibility for it.

Mr Matthews, whose firm is facing cover-up allegations, said: “I’m sorry for any confusion, but this has not been of our making.”

The 77-year-old millionaire, speaking for the first time since the outbreak at his plant 15 days ago, said that he was desperate to discover how it had been contaminated.

He denied claims there had been attempts to mask his firm’s links to Hungrary, where the same strain of bird flu has been found.

He said in a letter to the Daily Mirror: “There’s been absolutely no cover-up at our end. I’ve been upset about allegations that we may have withheld any information. This is completely untrue.

“We’ve been working around the clock to ensure the public are 100 per cent safe. I promise you that I would not let a single turkey leave my farms if I thought there was the slightest danger to the public.

“Let me be absolutely clear — it’s my name on the packet and I wouldn’t let any food go out to the shelves if I thought there was anything wrong with it.”

When the H5N1 virus was discovered, 160,000 turkeys were culled at Mr Matthews’s Suffolk plant. It then emerged that meat was exported from the farm after the disease was found there.

Authorities discovered that the virus was essentially identical to that found among the Hungarian geese.

Bernard Matthews has a processing plant in Hungary that sends frozen turkeys to Britain.

Mr Matthews said: “The link to my business in Hungary is one that is being thoroughly investigated and we were originally told by the experts that the possibility of any link with Hungary had been dismissed.

“I want to stress there haven’t been any reported incidents of avian flu on any of our farms in Hungary.”

He said his company knew “for sure” that it had not imported any turkey meat originating from Hungarian farms within the restriction zone.

Mr Matthews said that turkeys and all poultry products were “perfectly safe to eat”.

“More than anything I want to reassure my customers. It’s their loyalty that built my business and I want to return it by promising that we will do everything we can to assist Defra \ to uncover the source of this outbreak.”

Mr Matthews, famous for his “Bootiful” catchphrase on television advertising, said that he was proud of his business, which he said had always abided by EU rules.

“I know that some of you will have ruled turkey off the menu and that is devastating to me.”

Mr Matthews built up his business from scratch after setting up a hatchery in his backyard in 1950. The firm now has a £400 million turnover each year and is Britain’s largest poultry producer.

Although Mr Matthews, who has a £300 million personal fortune, has been largely silent since the outbreak, he denied he was shying away from the issue. “It’s simply because as I’ve got more advanced in years I’ve handed the day-to-day running of the business over to a strong management team so it’s now more appropriate that they brief you all on what’s been happening.”

Mr Matthews said his company “volunteered” to stop movements of poultry between Hungary and Britain and held on to stock while checks were carried out.

“But of course there are unanswered questions and Defra continues to look very closely at how the disease arrived at our farm.

“More than anyone else, I am determined to find out how this could have happened.”

Matthews signed off his letter: “Turkey is bootiful. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

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