February 16, 2007

Poultry meat from Hungary not the cause of UK bird flu

The European Commission has ruled that Hungary did not send infected meat from restricted zones in southeast Hungary to the Bernard Matthews' plant in the UK which reported a bird flu outbreak earlier this month.

No animals were sent to slaughter houses from the restricted zones since November 2006, said EU health spokesman Philip Tod.

There was no evidence to link the recent bird flu outbreak on a turkey farm in Suffolk to meat from contaminated birds in Hungary, the European Commission concluded.

However, even as the virus was most likely not transmitted through poultry meat, there was still a very clear link between the Hungarian strain and the one found in the UK earlier this month.

Other ways the virus could have arrived in the UK include vehicles, manure, human contact with either feathers or birds and unlicensed trade.