British bird flu linked to Hungary

LONDON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- British authorities may have linked the outbreak of the bird flu there to meat from Hungary, officials announced in London.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said 8,360 pounds of turkey meat from Hungary had been imported every week to the Bernard Matthews turkey farm at Holton in Suffolk, the farm where thousands of turkeys were found to have the bird flu virus, The Independent reported. Bird flu is prevalent in Hungary, the newspaper said.

The newspaper said the announcement represents a reversal in the government's position on a likely source of the bird flu infection. Previously, it had said the infection had likely not come from Hungary but from wild birds. Some had speculated on a Hungarian connection because Bernard Matthews has operations in Hungary.

"It always seemed unlikely that avian flu arrived in Suffolk via the wild bird population, since there has been no evidence of infected wild birds. Bernard Matthews now have some serious questions to answer about their bio-security arrangements and the version of events they have told," Peter Ainsworth, the opposition environment secretary, told The Independent.