Expert warns on food safety

HEAD of microbiological safety at the British Food Standards Agency, Dr Judith Hilton, said as a precaution poultry meat should be cooked until juices run clear and there are no pink areas, and raw eggs should be avoided.

In a healthy person, cooked eggs with runny yolks were safe - the H5N1 virus was easily destroyed by heat.

Washing hands after handling meat or eggs would eliminate the risk of picking up the virus.

“The way people get flu is through the respiratory route, and not through what they eat.

“However we have to set that advice against what theoretical risk there might be from eating poultry meat and eggs. We can’t entirely exclude that possibility, on the basis of science. However, it’s a very, very remote possibility.”