Dutch food safety watchdogs have indicated that more than one company in the Netherlands is the focus of the investigation into the possible source of horsemeat content in Tesco budget burgers.

Dutch food safety watchdogs have been drafted in as part of the investigation into the contamination of Irish beef burgers with horsemeat, in a move that places a Dutch company at the centre of the probe.

Ireland and Russia today banned imports of British poultry and eggs, and farmers elsewhere in Europe took steps to shield their flocks from the possible spread of deadly bird flu from an infected British turkey farm.

Poultry farmers around Europe were on guard today against the possible spread of bird flu across the North Sea from infected Britain, fearing the disease could be carried by wild birds.