February 16, 2007

Bernard Matthews denies responsibility for UK bird flu outbreak

The turkey tycoon Bernard Matthews broke his silence over the UK bird flu outbreak to deny responsibility for it, The Mirror reports Thursday (Feb 15), citing a letter from Matthews.

Matthews, whose firm is facing cover-up allegations, said: "I'm sorry, but this has not been of our making."

Speaking for the first time since the outbreak at his plant 15 days ago, he said he was desperate to discover how it had been contaminated.

He denied assertions there had been attempts to mask his firm's links to Hungary, where the same strain of bird flu has been found.

"There's been absolutely no cover-up at our end. I've been upset about allegations that we may have withheld any information. This is completely untrue."