According to two reports unveiled today (16 February) by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the most likely cause of the bird flu outbreak at Bernard Matthews’s turkey farm in Suffolk was poultry imported to the UK from Hungary. However, the investigators found no evidence that the poultry producer broke European import regulations.
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The report by Defra identifies two possible sources of the outbreak: wild birds and imports. It concludes that there is “little evidence” to support the hypotheses that the disease was transmitted by wild birds because H5N1 has not been found in the European bird population since August 2006. The department believes that the genetically identical nature of the virus found in Suffolk and Hungary suggests that the disease was brought into the UK from the Eastern European country via poultry imports.
The interim report concludes that “currently the most plausible” route of transmission is associated with the importation of poultry products from Hungary.
Fred Landeg, deputy chief vet said: “We are still yet to reach a final conclusion and our investigation will continue to be all-embracing in respect of possible means of introduction of the virus. However, these reports set out the current state of expert thinking and explain the rationale behind the most plausible explanation for how transfer of the virus could have occurred. It should nonetheless be recognised that we may never be able to conclusively pinpoint the original source of the virus.”
However, the joint report by the FSA, Defra and the Meat Hygiene Service has not uncovered any evidence that Bernard Matthews broke European law by importing meat from inside the bird flu restriction zones in Hungary. According to the investigators, all processing and importing activities undertaken at the Suffolk site by Bernard Matthews are in-line with EU regulations.
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By GlobalData“This report shows that according to the best available evidence no turkey meat from areas previously infected with avian influenza in Hungary was received at the Bernard Matthews plant in Holton,” Andrew Wadge, FSA chief scientist, said. “It is important to remember that this investigation has always been about the illegality or otherwise of meat imported into the UK, and not about food safety. We reiterate our advice that properly cooked poultry meat does not pose a food safety risk”.
