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April 25, 2007 08:00 am | The Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture once again denied last Thursday (Apr 19) that Hungary could be linked to the bird flu epidemic that broke out in the UK earlier this year, state news agency MTI has reported.
In February, British experts concluded that the H5N1 bird flu virus found in an outbreak in the UK and January's discovery in Hungary were "the same."
But Zolt?n G?g?s, state secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, said last week that he could only repeat the Hungarian government's earlier position that there was no evidence of a link.
In response to the latest statement made by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), saying that the "most plausible" cause of the outbreak was infected meat from Hungary, G?g?s told MTI that Hungary, to date, has not received any official report from the UK.
The same flu
As previously reported in The Budapest Sun (Hungarian and UK bird flu ?the same,' Feb 14), Bernard Matthews, Europe's largest poultry producer, has consistently denied a link between its UK farm and the S?Ga Foods Zrt processing plant it also owns in Hungary.
The Hungarian outbreak was at a farm in Szentes, about 160km away from the plant in S?rv?r belonging to S?Ga, Hungary's largest poultry company.
"Infection was most likely introduced to Great Britain via the importation of turkey meat from a sub-clinically infected turkey flock in Hungary," the DEFRA report said.
However, G?g?s claims there is no evidence for the allegation which "proved nothing," as some bird flu strains are often similar to each other. He stressed that the European Commission and its experts concluded that it was "impossible" that the Hungarian outbreak was in any way related to the British.
13,000 culled
Since the outbreak in January, some 13,000 geese from the Szentes area (S?Ga says the farm there is not a supplier to it) suspected of carrying the virus have been culled and countries such as Croatia, Russia and Bulgaria banned Hungarian poultry imports, albeit temporarily.
Some 160,000 turkeys were slaughtered on the Bernard Matthews farm in Suffolk.
http://www.budapestsun.com/cikk.php?id=26299
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In February, British experts concluded that the H5N1 bird flu virus found in an outbreak in the UK and January's discovery in Hungary were "the same."
But Zolt?n G?g?s, state secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, said last week that he could only repeat the Hungarian government's earlier position that there was no evidence of a link.
In response to the latest statement made by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), saying that the "most plausible" cause of the outbreak was infected meat from Hungary, G?g?s told MTI that Hungary, to date, has not received any official report from the UK.
The same flu
As previously reported in The Budapest Sun (Hungarian and UK bird flu ?the same,' Feb 14), Bernard Matthews, Europe's largest poultry producer, has consistently denied a link between its UK farm and the S?Ga Foods Zrt processing plant it also owns in Hungary.
The Hungarian outbreak was at a farm in Szentes, about 160km away from the plant in S?rv?r belonging to S?Ga, Hungary's largest poultry company.
"Infection was most likely introduced to Great Britain via the importation of turkey meat from a sub-clinically infected turkey flock in Hungary," the DEFRA report said.
However, G?g?s claims there is no evidence for the allegation which "proved nothing," as some bird flu strains are often similar to each other. He stressed that the European Commission and its experts concluded that it was "impossible" that the Hungarian outbreak was in any way related to the British.
13,000 culled
Since the outbreak in January, some 13,000 geese from the Szentes area (S?Ga says the farm there is not a supplier to it) suspected of carrying the virus have been culled and countries such as Croatia, Russia and Bulgaria banned Hungarian poultry imports, albeit temporarily.
Some 160,000 turkeys were slaughtered on the Bernard Matthews farm in Suffolk.
http://www.budapestsun.com/cikk.php?id=26299<!--Kapcsol?d? cuccok -->
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