Bernard Matthews to get €800,000 compensation

After the H5N1 virus was found in the farm at Holton, near Halesworth, a month ago, 159,000 turkeys were culled in line with European rules to stop the spread of disease.

Despite some irregularities found at the farm Bernard Matthews is entitled to receive compensation from the government. The Animal Health Act 1981 says that the owner of healthy birds killed for disease control should be paid at their value before they were killed.

As 7,000 birds were infected, the company will get compensation for the remaining 152,000 birds. Defra figures say that eight-week-old – the age of the birds when they were killed – birds in “intensive turkey rearing operations such as those undertaken by Bernard Matthews” are worth from €5.17 to €5.50 depending if it were hens or toms. It adds up to between €786,000 and €834,000 for the whole flock.

A company spokesman said: “Bernard Matthews can confirm it will receive compensation from Defra for culling healthy turkeys following last month’s outbreak.”