The Chinese authorities are scrambling to prevent an outbreak of bird flu after three reported cases in the last two weeks.

China moves to prevent bird flu pandemic
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Hundreds of millions of Chinese are preparing to travel home during Chinese New Year this weekend, and the authorities are concerned that the world's biggest human migration could help spread the disease further.

After not reporting a single human death from bird flu since 2003, the last two weeks have seen three cases in three separate provinces. The Agriculture Ministry said it was moving quickly to quarantine anyone who came into contact with the victims.

"As the Spring Festival approaches, there are frequent movements of poultry products and the risk rises of virus outbreaks and transmission," the ministry said in a statement. "We have already asked the relevant provinces to strengthen their bird flu prevention work," it added.

The first victim was a 19-year-old woman, Huang Yanqing, who lived in Beijing. She became ill with the H2N1 virus in December after eating a contaminated duck that was traced to Jinxian County in Tianjin, in North China.

After Miss Huang died on January 5 the Chinese authorities quarantined 200 people who had come into contact with her. They were all subsequently cleared."

A 'survival kit' for NHS patients to take into hospital to protect them from viruses like MRSA has been produced for consumers.

NHS survival kit goes on sale to protect against hospital bugs like MRSA
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The PatientPak contains wipes and sprays which kill MRSA, e-coli, norovirus, capylobactor, salmonella, listeria and even bird flu within 10 seconds.

The pack, which costs £15.99 and is available in high streets, includes anti-bacterial surface wipes, hand wipes, hair and body wash and a fabric spray for sanitising bedsheets and curtains.

The product has been launched amid growing concern amongst patients to protect themselves while in hospital.

PatientPak uses products containing Clinell, known for killing infections. However, the formula cannot kill C.diff - which can only be tackled with skin-toxic sporicide - but the pack contains soap and nail brushes to encourage people to clean hands."

Sounds a good idea.

Disquiet over huge compensation paid from taxpayers' money to Bernard Matthews, the turkey products company associated with the bird flu outbreak.

Disquiet over pay to 'bird flu farmer' - Independent

Extract:

"Jack Straw, the Leader of the Commons, said he was "uncomfortable" with the payment of £589,000 in compensation by the taxpayer to Bernard Matthews, the turkey products company at the centre of the bird flu outbreak.

Some 159,000 turkeys were culled at Bernard Matthews' Suffolk farm to prevent the H5N1 virus spreading. The firm will be reimbursed between £3 and £4 per bird, depending on their age, by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Mr Straw told MPs: "All of us are uncomfortable about the reports of high levels of compensation to Mr Matthews' firm.""

Bernard Matthews turkey plant will not be prosecuted about food hygiene failings at the time of bird flu incidence.

Watchdog clears Bernard Matthews plant - Independent

Extract:

"A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs report published in February listed a catalogue of failings at the turkey plant.

Inspectors saw gulls feeding on meat scraps left in uncovered waste bins and polythene bags used for meat products left in open bins.

But the Food Standards Agency today said its probe had found "no evidence" that the firm breached animal by-product or food hygiene laws.

The watchdog said in a statement: "We have carefully scrutinised and considered the evidence in this case and concluded there is insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.

"Accordingly, we have decided not to proceed to a prosecution in this case."

The FSA said its decision followed a thorough examination into possible problems with food waste storage at the Bernard Matthews site.

Defra said the FSA had been investigating Bernard Matthews on its behalf. "


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Bernard Matthews 'to lay off hundreds' of staff

Bernard Matthews 'to lay off hundreds'

Extracts:

"David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, made no mention of the redundancies when he gave an update to MPs of developments since the outbreak at the plant in Holton earlier this month which led to a cull of nearly 160,000 birds.

Mr Miliband told the Commons: "The expert advice available to me is that there is a constant, low risk of bird flu to the UK and higher risk during migration season.

"There can be no guarantee against further outbreaks. In fact, the only guarantee is that there is a continual risk." "


"YouGov's BrandIndex, which monitors consumer attitudes to 1,100 brands every day, revealed Bernard Matthews was now the second least liked brand in Britain. Only McDonald's has a worse public image problem.

Britain's biggest poultry producer was hit by allegations of a cover-up following the outbreak, amid claims that it had not been clear with the public about the transportation of turkey meat to the plant from Hungary, which had suffered an earlier outbreak of the H5N1 virus.

The company admitted it had imported meat from a supplier just a few miles from where the lethal disease was found in farmed geese last month, but denied it had broken any laws."

There were lapses in hygiene at the Bernard Matthews Turkey Farm

There were lapses in hygiene at the Bernard Matthews Turkey Farm

Extract:

"Bernard Matthews was warned several times about hygiene lapses at its Suffolk turkey farm before the bird flu outbreak earlier this month, a Government report said yesterday.

Meat Hygiene Service inspectors recorded "a number of instances" where the company was given verbal advice about failure to comply with hygiene regulations."

'Biosecurity lapse' responsible for H5N1, admits David Miliband.

'Biosecurity lapse' responsible for H5N1

Extracts:

"A recent outbreak of the deadly strain of bird flu H5N1 was caused by poor biosecurity, the environment secretary has stated.

David Miliband said that it is likely that the outbreak is connected to a similar one in Hungary.

The deadly strain of the flu was found in a Bernard Mathews turkey farm in Suffolk, which then culled its entire population of the birds."

"The Food Standards Agency and the Health Protection Agency are currently working with Hungarian officials and with Bernard Mathews, Mr Miliband added."

Britain? UK? - Scandalous revelations about where our food comes from, what it contains and how safe it is. Bernard Matthews and the H5N1 virus?

Not made in Britain

Extracts:

"With suspicions that an outbreak of bird flu at Bernard Matthews's Suffolk farm is linked to an earlier instance of the deadly H5N1 virus among geese in Hungary, warning bells have begun ringing over the origins of the food we eat. The fact that a Hungarian slaughterhouse used by the Matthews company is less than 30 miles from the source of the outbreak in geese, and equally close to the abattoir where 13,000 of the birds were gassed last month, means it is now seen as a possible source of cross-contamination. While the company has repeatedly claimed that there is "no connection" between its Hungarian operation and bird flu in Suffolk, a link appears increasingly likely."

"The fact is that "food fraud" as it is known, is big business and stretches across a range of key products. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) believes that about 10 per cent of our weekly shopping may be "counterfeit". Many of the everyday goods that we buy - honey, orange juice, ham, butter and coffee - generate serious money for the food cheats. From printing misleading labels to diluting or modifying the food itself, it has become more commonplace than ever for suppliers to dupe consumers."

"Two months ago, an inspection by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) at one Worcestershire supermarket supplier raised suspicions that battery-farmed eggs were being packaged and labelled as the more expensive free-range option. With such a wide distribution network, these eggs could have found their way on to supermarket shelves all across the country."

"...a turkey can spend its entire life in another country and then be processed here and presented as British: that is clearly wrong, even if it isn't against the regulations. And it isn't just with poultry. In the pork industry there has been the problem of supermarkets bringing in legs of pork from Denmark, processing them here, and labelling them British."

"Almost all supermarket chicken ready meals use Thai chicken. For example, your local Morrisons supermarket's Chicken Tikka Masala, priced at £2.99, says "produced in the UK" on its label. Indeed it was, but the chicken comes from Thailand...Bulking up a chicken breast with water is, the [FSA]agency has discovered, an old supplier's trick. One of its recent surveys established that almost half the frozen chicken breasts examined had a meat content of between five and 26 per cent less than appeared on the packaging, and that some chicken breasts contained as much as 43 per cent added water."