Bird flu crisis: cull taking place
THE slaughter of turkeys is taking place on two more farms following the latest outbreak of a deadly strain of bird flu near Park Farm at Redgrave, near Diss.
Breckland and the Swaffham area fall within a restriction zone the Government has set up where poultry keepers must house their birds or isolate them from wild birds to try to prevent spread of the H5N1 strain of avian flu.
Culling of all the birds at the Suffolk farm was completed on Wednesday. Defra officials now plan to kill 22,000 free range turkeys on four other nearby farms operated by Redgrave Poultry, a subsidiary of Gressingham Foods, as a precautionary measure because they share the same farming staff.
READ ALSO: Don't blame wild birds for flu
In September, Gressingham Foods saved jobs at Manor Farm Ducklings, near Mundford, by taking over the business after it had gone into administration for the second time in three years.
On Thursday, a company spokesman said he was not aware of any links or sharing of staff between Redgrave Poultry and the Mundford duck processing firm, Ickburgh Estate, which might lead to contagion as they dealt with different markets and breeds of ducks.
He said the estate's two Mundford sites, on Foulden Road and the A1065 Swaffham Road, had 15 staff between them and dealt with the Pekin breed of duck.
He also said that although the farm had not received any notification from Defra, it was following all the Defra guidelines, in line with other poultry farmers in that area, as it fell within the wider restriction zone announced on Tuesday afternoon.
When Gressingham Foods took over Manor Farm Ducklings, commercial director William Buchanan said it had a very good customer base in retail and wholesale, "and we see the acquisition as a fantastic opportunity". The family-run business was looking to grow its operations, he added.
A spokesman for Unite, Britain's largest trade union in the food industry, said the most pressing concern was to isolate and then contain the bird flu outbreak.
"The authorities learnt a great deal from the Bernard Matthews outbreak so should swing into action like a well-oiled machine to try to limit the effects of this latest outbreak," he said.
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Weather for King's Lynn
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
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Wind direction: East
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