Some turkey products get all clear

12 April 2012

The Food Standards Agency has cleared some Bernard Matthews turkey products to be released for sale, saying they do not contain meat from a restricted zone in Hungary.

Bernard Matthews had been voluntarily holding the products at two cold stores at Holton and Chesterfield to keep them out of the food chain after the FSA said there was a "remote possibility" they contained meat from the restricted area.

The FSA said it had gathered "sufficient information" to clear the products, and Bernard Matthews had been told it could release them into the food chain.

A statement from the FSA said: "The Food Standards Agency investigation has tonight gathered sufficient information to conclude that product held temporarily in the Bernard Matthews cold stores at Holton and Chesterfield does not contain meat from a restricted zone in Hungary, which would have made it illegal to enter the food chain.

"As a result, the Food Standards Agency has informed Bernard Matthews that the meat products held voluntarily in their cold stores for the past 48 hours can now be released into the food chain."

The first consignment of turkeys arrived at Bernard Matthews' Holton plant on Tuesday after the Government gave it the go-ahead to restart operations.

Bernard Matthews stopped movements of poultry to and from Hungary last Thursday.

In a statement earlier on Wednesday, the firm said that its temporary block on the movement of the products containing Hungarian meat was brought in Tuesday morning.

"Bernard Matthews wants to make it clear that consumers have been reassured by the FSA that avian flu does not pose a food safety risk to UK consumers and properly-cooked poultry is perfectly safe to eat," its statement said. Bernard Matthews said it was continuing to assist the FSA's and Defra's investigations into the avian flu outbreak.

Government scientists on Tuesday confirmed that the strain of bird flu responsible for the outbreak of the disease at the Bernard Matthews plant was "essentially identical" to the virus found in Hungary. An investigation into how the H5N1 strain of bird flu got to the UK is still under way.

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