by Playfuls Staff |
13th February 2007
Hungary's chief veterinarian on Tuesday said that investigations had found there was virtually no chance that poultry products from Hungary caused the recent outbreak of bird flu in [more] Britain.
"According to the information at our disposal so far bird flu did not reach England from Hungary," he told the press.
British authorities suspect that the potentially-deadly-to-humans H5N1 virus found on Bernard Matthews' farm in the south-eastern county of Suffolk came from Hungary and have supported this with claims that the two viruses are almost identical.
Up to 160,000 turkeys were culled on the farm after the discovery of the strain among the birds in early February.
Bernard Matthews also owns Hungary's SaGa Foods, and the parent company has admitted that poultry products were transported from its subsidiary to Suffolk just before the outbreak.
Suth said that that SaGa Foods sent 364.78 tonnes of products to England between November and February, while 622.58 tonnes were sent the other way.
SaGa Foods has its base in Sarvar, western Hungary, which is over 200 kilometres from the goose farm in Csongrad County in south- eastern Hungary where bird flu was discovered in January.
Suth said that bird flu had not been discovered in any slaughterhouses or farms providing meat to either SaGa foods or Gall Food, another company that has sent meat to Britain.
Hungary has taken offence at the suggestion it is to blame for the outbreak, and the British Ambassador to Hungary John Nichols met Hungary's agriculture minister in an attempt to soothe any political fallout.
The Embassy said that Nichols held a "constructive" meeting with Jozsef Graf on Monday to discuss the issue.
"Both countries are cooperating extremely well and have full confidence in one another," Nichols said in a statement.
Graf also emphasized that he believed there was no evidence that the disease came from Hungary and dismissed the fact that the viruses were very similar.
"The identical virus strains are not considered as sufficient evidence for the hypothesis, as the same strain was identified in the background of most recent outbreaks in different (EU) member states," he said.
The European Commission on Tuesday said that it was satisfied with Hungary's efforts in investigating the disease.
© 2007 DPA
