Disquiet over pay to 'bird flu farmer'

Jack Straw, the Leader of the Commons, said he was "uncomfortable" with the payment of £589,000 in compensation by the taxpayer to Bernard Matthews, the turkey products company at the centre of the bird flu outbreak.

Some 159,000 turkeys were culled at Bernard Matthews' Suffolk farm to prevent the H5N1 virus spreading. The firm will be reimbursed between £3 and £4 per bird, depending on their age, by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Mr Straw told MPs: "All of us are uncomfortable about the reports of high levels of compensation to Mr Matthews' firm."

But the firm said the reimbursement only covered the cost of raising the birds and not their potential market value. "It has been documented that the avian flu outbreak has cost our business millions of pounds in lost revenue so in the circumstances we believe the compensation is fair and appropriate," the firm said.

It is most likely the H5N1 infection came to Britain via imported turkey meat from Hungary, Defra's final report into the outbreak has concluded.

The Food Standards Agency has said there is insufficient evidence to charge anyone over the importation of contaminated meat.