No one gets the blame but turkey company gets compensated for bird flu scare

Apr 19 2007

A turkey producer in Britain has been awarded compensation to the tune of almost 600,000 pounds following an outbreak of bird flu at a farm there earlier in the year.

The Bernard Matthews company was forced to slaughter thousands of turkeys on one of its farms in Suffolk to contain the outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu.

Bernard Matthews is one Europe's largest turkey producers and also has farms in Hungary.

According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) the compensation system is designed to encourage farmers to report potentially deadly outbreaks.

DEFRA says early reporting is essential in preventing the spread of the disease, which would result in a far higher cost to the taxpayer.

But the level of compensation has angered many particularly in the political arena who say the government has let the company off as it has not been made accountable for its bio-security lapses and no one has been held responsible.

Within the government too some are "uncomfortable" with high levels of compensation.

The Bernard Matthews company says it has tightened its biosecurity since the outbreak but it believes there should be more extensive testing of wild birds in the UK.

However footage seen on television of seagulls feeding and carrying off waste meat at the plant, along with a report in February that found serious breaches of security at the plant, has shaken public confidence in the company.

Following two investigations into the outbreak a final report has confirmed that the source was not proven, but the "most plausible" cause was the importation of infected turkey infected meat from Hungary.

It appears the turkeys at the Hungarian farms could have been infected by wild birds.

Hungary however has repeatedly denied suggestions it was the source of the virus and says it's technology is closed and controlled.

To date the virus has killed at least 165 people worldwide since 2003, most of them in Asia, and more than 200 million birds have died from it, or have been culled to prevent its spread.

The virus remains a disease of birds which is contracted by close contact with infected birds or poultry.