Bernard Matthews gets cull compensation

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - Turkey producer Bernard Matthews will receive nearly 600,000 pounds in compensation after a bird flu outbreak forced it to slaughter thousands of turkeys, the government said on Thursday.

Europe's largest turkey producer culled 160,000 birds to help prevent the spread of the H5N1 strain of flu that was found on one of its farms in Suffolk.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the compensation system was designed to encourage farmers to report potentially deadly outbreaks.

"Early reporting is essential to preventing disease spread, which would result in a far higher cost to the taxpayer," it added in a statement.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary Chris Huhne accused the government of "going soft in applying hygiene rules" at the Bernard Matthews site.

"Giving over half a million pounds of taxpayers' money to Bernard Matthews will cause considerable anger unless the business is also held to account for its bio-security lapses," he said.

His Conservative counterpart Peter Ainsworth said: "Many people will be absolutely astonished that no one will be held responsible for the outbreak."

The Leader of the House of Commons Jack Straw told parliament that MPs were "uncomfortable" with high levels of compensation.