UPDATE: Bernard Matthews Hungarian connection confirmed

757 tons of the turkey was from the UK and 93 tons was from Hungary, the country suspected as being the source of the H5N1 outbreak . Under European regulations no birds should be moved in a 3km zone around infected farms and in the further 10km surveillance zone.

However, it had emerged that 37 mt of partly processed turkeys have been arriving in Britain from Bernard Matthews Hungarian plants every week. A delivery arrived at the plant just a few days before January 27, when workers first spotted signs of illness in the eight-week-old chicks. This detail is understood to have been withheld on grounds of commercial confidentiality.

The Food Standards Agency said none of the meat went near the sheds where infected birds were found and it was processed on other areas of the site. The minister also stressed that no-one involved in meat processing had come into contact with live birds at another part of the site.

A further 50 tons of chicken from Brazil also passed through the plant.