Bird flu fails to ruffle UK market's feathers

The European Commission (EC) is to compensate companies in the egg and poultry sector if sales or prices fall as a result of bird flu.

Until now, such aid has been limited to firms affected directly by the virus, but the EC will now match state payments to firms to cover a fall in income.

The move comes amid reports that since the start of the epidemic, consumption of poultry has plummeted in some European countries, with claims that up to 300,000t was now in storage, leading to a sharp fall in prices.

Despite confirmation last month that the swan found dead in Fife carried the deadly H5N1 strain, the big four supermarkets claimed that sales of chicken and eggs remained normal for the time of year. UK poultry processors also reported no change in demand or prices and claimed the market was stable.

Moy Park, which processes 1.3M chickens a week in Northern Ireland, said: "It's down to the intelligence of the British consumer, who, by now, is used to these scares and is listening to the facts - that you won't get bird flu by eating chicken or eggs.

"At the moment, the market is holding steady but we will have to see what the autumn brings. Whatever happens, this isn't going to go away."

Grampian Country Foods and Bernard Matthews also said that bird flu had not significantly affected business. "But one thing we must not be is complacent," warned Grampian. "Although the incident here was only in one wild bird, we are maintaining high bio-security measures on our farms."

However, there are fears among free range producers that, should more cases emerge, shoppers will boycott their produce in favour of non-free range, where the perceived risk of infection is less.

As Food Manufacture went to press, 35,000 chickens were slaughtered at a farm in Norfolk after dead birds tested positive for bird flu. Early tests suggested the birds, at Witford Lodge Farm in Hockering, died from the H7 strain, which poses less of a risk to humans than H5N1.