Miliband defends imports

Environment Secretary David Miliband has defended his decision to allow imports of turkey meat from Hungary to continue, even after an outbreak of bird flu was confirmed in the UK.Blocking imports would have breached European Union rules and invited continent-wide retaliation against the British poultry industry, he said.Mr Miliband denied misleading Parliament about the suspected Hungarian link to the bird flu outbreak at a Bernard Matthews turkey plant in Suffolk, insisting that he kept MPs informed of the latest advice the Government was receiving from scientists.And he said it was now clear that there had been "a bio-security lapse" at the Suffolk factory farm which allowed contamination to get from a processing plant into the sheds housing live birds.He added: "To have invited the sort of retaliation from around Europe and elsewhere for all of the British poultry industry would not have been a sensible thing to do."What we have done, rightly, is to follow the scientific advice and ensure that EU rules are rigorously implemented."His comments come after the Government reportedly allowed Bernard Matthews to continue importing turkey meat from the bird flu-hit region of Hungary even though it suspected the area was the source of the British outbreak.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

ITN | February 11, 2007

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