The British Poultry Council

The 160,000 turkeys on the Bernard Matthews farm at Holton have now been culled and rendered under direction from the State Veterinary Service. Disinfection procedures for the site are underway.

The swiftness and efficiency in dealing with the outbreak is due to the hard work and co-operation between the State Veterinary Service, DEFRA and other Government Agencies, and the company and other poultry farmers. Controls are in place around the farm and in the surrounding area.

A Protection Zone of 3km radius and a Surveillance Zone of 10km have been in place since Saturday (03/02/07). A wider Restricted Zone is also in place, covering east Suffolk and South East Norfolk bounded to the west and the north by the A140 and A47 respectively, an area of approximately 2090sqkm. It requires the housing of all poultry or, if that is not possible, the complete separation of poultry farms from wild birds. Movement of all poultry and poultry products within these zones is controlled under licence.

The Great Britain Poultry Register has been used to issue text alerts to all those registered and poultry farmers are maintaining high vigilance and bio-security. All hobbyist bird gatherings have been banned nationwide until further notice. Epidemiological investigations into the source of the outbreak are continuing and the British Poultry Council is liaising closely with DEFRA.

Speaking today, BPC Chief Executive, Mr. Peter Bradnock said: “The apparent containment and culling of this outbreak has proved how effective partnership between government and the poultry sector can be. DEFRA, the SVS, the Health Protection Agency, and others have dealt with this in a rapid and effective way and the controls in place are proportionate to the risk poultry farmers face”.

Commenting further, Mr. Bradnock said: “Wide and ongoing surveillance of wild birds in the UK, particularly susceptible waterfowl species, remains key. This outbreak has been contained and the risk to the general public is judged by health experts to be negligible. We are pleased that shoppers are supporting British poultry meat, assured that there is no risk in eating cooked poultry, and that is a message being echoed by the Food Standards Agency and the World Health Organisation”.