Early results on UK bird flu investigation due

Experts will today reveal the interim findings of a British government investigation into the source of the bird flu outbreak.

Deputy chief veterinary officer Fred Landeg will outline progress made in the ongoing probe into H5N1 at a Bernard Matthews plant in Suffolk.

He will be joined by the Food Standards Agency’s veterinary director Alick Simmons who will reveal the findings of a second report into bird flu and the UK food chain.

Bernard Matthews yesterday broke his silence for the first time since the virus came to light.

In a Daily Mirror interview, the millionaire strenuously denied any cover-up of his farm’s links to Hungary, where the same strain of bird flu was found in geese.

“There has been absolutely no cover-up at our end. I’ve been upset about allegations that we may have withheld information. That is completely untrue,” he said.

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

FSA officials cleared Bernard Matthews products for release onto the UK market on Wednesday night after Hungarian officials proved they did not contain meat from a restricted zone there.

The first consignment of turkeys arrived at Bernard Matthews’ Holton plant on Tuesday after the Government gave it the go-ahead to restart operations.

Government scientists have confirmed that the strain of bird flu responsible for the outbreak in Suffolk was “essentially identical” to the virus found in Hungary.

Experts at the Veterinary Laboratory Agency found that the H5N1 virus which killed turkeys at the Holton plant was 99.96% similar to the strain which infected geese in southern Hungary.

No evidence has been found to date of illegal or unsafe movements of poultry products from Hungary to the UK.