Hungarian Connection
The Government, on 8 February, admitted that the outbreak may have been caused by semi-processed turkey meat imported directly from Hungary, where the disease is prevalent, despite earlier in the week the Environment Secretary, David Miliband assuring the House of Commons that there was "no Hungarian connection".
Bernard Matthews had been importing 38 tons of partly processed turkey meat on a weekly basis from their Saga Foods company, in Sárvár, Hungary, to a processing plant next to the farm. Though Saga Foods lies 165 miles (266 km) from where the recent Hungarian H5N1 outbreak had occurred, a company director admitted it was "possible" that some of the meat could have come from the exclusion zone. In response to this revelation, Whitehall expressed concern over biosecurity and whether any meat may have been distributed for human consumption in Britain. On 9 February 2007 the Hungarian authorities started an investigation to try to establish whether there was a connection between the Suffolk and Hungarian outbreaks. On 11 February the investigation revealed that turkey products were still being transported, in both directions, between the plant and Hungary with EU regulations being cited as the reason why a transport ban could not be imposed.
The Hungary link was dismissed by the European Commission on 12 February. Even so, the H5N1 bird flu strains found in Hungary and Britain were shown to be 99.96% genetically identical and, according to an analysis of the viruses by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, Surrey, were almost certainly linked. A leak from the Government's COBRA emergency committee indicated that the authorities were not aware of the Hungarian connection until an investigator found a Gallfoods delivery wrapper in a Bernard Matthews bin. This raised the possibility that the outbreak was due to a "third party abattoir, Gallfoods in Hungary, just outside the restricted zone". This abattoir might have been a middle man for contaminated poultry farming tools, feed, or product from within the restricted zone, such as a Bernard Matthews owned subsidiary in Hungary.
In response to the incident and allegations of a cover-up, Bernard Matthews himself stated on 14 February "I'm sorry - but this has not been of our making. There's been absolutely no cover up at our end. I've been upset about allegations that we may have withheld information. That is completely untrue."
Bernard Matthews was given permission to resume its shipments of poultry between the UK and Hungary from 17 February even though Defra indicated that Hungarian turkey products remained the "most plausible" cause of the outbreak.
Read more about this topic: 2007 Bernard Matthews H5N1 Outbreak
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