February 12, 2007

UK bird flu farm continues exports of poultry meat
 

An investigation was under way after comments that poultry meat was exported from the Suffolk farm at the centre of Britain's bird flu outbreak after the disease was identified, The Times of London and The Independent report Monday.

Despite the imposition of quarantine rules, six trucks of poultry products from the farm owned by Bernard Matthews PLC were said to have arrived in Hungary Thursday, the papers report.

Hungary's Deputy Chief Vet, Lajos Bognar, told Channel 4 News Sunday, "I can say that, from the protection zone in the UK, six trucks arrived from there last week to Hungary."

A Defra spokeswoman said: "Depending on the type of product and the date of slaughter and which farm it originated from, it is possible that poultry products from the Suffolk plant could have met the requirement for movement outside the restricted area."