£600,000 payout for turkey deaths

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Some 160,000 turkeys were killed at the Suffolk farm to prevent the H5N1 virus spreading.

It is most likely the infection came to Britain via imported turkey meat from Hungary, a report published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says.

Investigators did not uncover any "proven" source for the bird flu outbreak at the Bernard Matthews plant in Holton, Suffolk.

The "most plausible" explanation was that the H5N1 virus came from turkeys imported from Hungary which had been infected by wild birds, according to the National Emergency Epidemiology Group's final findings.

Bernard Matthews will get £589,356.89 for healthy birds compulsorily killed, as required by the Animal Health Act 1981.

Defra said compensation was offered to the owners of healthy animals destroyed due to disease prevention as an incentive to report diseases early.

An earlier investigation by the Food Standards Agency found no basis for prosecuting Bernard Matthews over the bird flu outbreak.

Chief veterinary officer Debby Reynolds said the February outbreak at the Bernard Matthews farm seemed to be the result of "a series of normally low probability events and circumstances".

Animal Health Minister Ben Bradshaw said: "Although we cannot be sure how the outbreak happened, this episode reflects the need for constant vigilance, high levels of biosecurity and robust and well developed contingency planning in dealing with animal disease outbreaks."