Bernard Matthews worker caught playing football with turkeys

The footage was secretly taken last week by an undercover investigator for an animal welfare charity who sneaked on to on one of the multi-millionaire's farms.

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The same investigator last year filmed two other Bernard Matthews staff appearing to play baseball with live turkeys on another farm.

The confidence of consumers with Bernard Matthews products was also shaken in February by an outbreak of bird flu at his biggest farm in Holton near Halesworth., Suffolk.

Production at the farm and its adjoining factory was halted as more than 160,000 birds were culled after the discovery of the virulent H5N1 strain of the disease.

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The latest video is another embarrassment to Matthews managers who had claimed they did not tolerate workers abusing poultry.

The new film shows a balding worker in overalls delivering eight separate kicks to turkeys in a shed on a farm at Wreningham near Wymondham, Norfolk.

The incident was filmed prior to two different workers being shown loading live turkeys into crates which were delivered to the shed by a forklift.

The video is said to have been filmed through an open door in the giant shed by an investigator who sneaked on to the farm at around 1.30 am last Thursday.

An RSPCA spokeswoman said she expected the charity would be launching an investigation into the latest footage released by the Hillside Animal Sanctuary.

Wendy Valentine, founder of the charity based near Norwich, said: "The video shows what is totally unacceptable cruelty.

"He is just going up to the turkeys and booting them in turn for no apparent reason. It just shows the culture on these farms.

"They are well aimed kicks at individual birds. He is not just using his feet to gently move them out of the way."

Ms Valentine said the investigator returned to the farm the following night to try and do some more filming and was caught by workers who blocked in his car with a lorry.

She said: "He was held until the police arrived and he explained to the officers what he was doing. They then let him go without arresting him.

"I would like to see some sort of action taken against this worker.

"We have some of the best animal welfare laws in the world, but they are not applied often enough.

"People would be horrified if they saw the reality of factory farms. You cannot describe the environment.

"We don't tell people not to eat meat or to boycott Bernard Matthews. But they should think about the conditions these animals live in."

A spokesman for Bernard Matthews said he could not comment until he had seen the video, despite being shown still pictures of the alleged abuse.

Last year the company claimed it was committed to the "highest standards" of animal welfare.

Turkey catchers Daniel Palmer, 27, and Neil Allen, 30, were ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service last September after were secretly filmed hitting birds with a pole at the Bernard Matthews plant in Haveringland, Norfolk.

Both admitted ill treatment when they appeared before Norwich magistrates.

They claimed they were influenced by "peer pressure" and part of a "culture" at the plant. An RSPCA inspector described the video of the pair as the worst case of cruelty to farm animals he had heard of.

Watch the shocking footage here