Low pathogenic avian flu of the H5 strain has been detected at a commercial chicken farm in Mid Suffolk, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has confirmed.
According to the agency, 27,000 birds at the firm will be “humanely culled” and a 1km restriction zone has been put in place around the infected farm “to limit the risk of the disease spreading”.
Public Health England (PHE) insists that the risk to public health from the virus is “very low” and the Food Standards Agency has made clear that bird flu “does not pose a food safety risk for UK consumers”.
Thoroughly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, are safe to eat, it stressed.
“We are urgently looking for any evidence of disease spread associated with this strain to control and eliminate it,” added chief veterinary officer, Christine Middlemiss.
