Bernard Matthews walks away with murder, "exonerated" by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), and leaves labor leaders and bird flu smiling. Visit FluRadar for the full story.

UK’s FSA clears BM, Europe’s biggest Turkey producer, of any legal liability, and lets it off the hook. How short-sighted can the UK get?

"I hope that the Food Standards Agency has not been influenced by short-term concerns about employment at the plant… If consumers lose confidence in the regulatory regime, the damage to the whole poultry farming industry would potentially be devastating." said Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Chris Huhne, quoted by the Guardian Unlimited.

BM’s trial by publicity was off to a great start, fed by British hurt pride and stiff-upper lip idea of cleaning up one’s own mess. The meat scraps, improperly disposed polythene bags, and biosecurity lapses in BM’s turkey plants in Holton, Suffolk and Hungary were swept under the rugs instead—spoiling what could have been an ironic consequence of outraged fuss, much of good intentions, and public confidence over the British officials’ grasp of the big picture.

The bird flu virus, having clearly dropped in on the UK across Europe and the English Channel through BM’s breaches of standards in food hygiene and carefree animal-by-product regulations, suddenly spits at the BM signature, made legible by the H5N1 strain in the dead Turkeys in Hungary and livestock in England, in both countries owned by BM, smudging it, mortifying it—and us who wanted to talk straight but ended up with a “turkey (animal, giant poultry farmer, or government—take your pick)” instead of the truth.
Authorities have earlier revealed that the H5N1 strain found in Hungary were practically identical with the strain that killed 2,600 turkeys and caused the culling of 160,000 more birds in Suffolk. BM regularly transports turkeys and turkey products between the UK and its plant in Hungary.
Investigators from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs also reported gross deficiencies in the disposal of animal by-products in the farm—gulls were feeding on waste left in uncovered bins and buildings with holes big enough for rats (another possible route of infection).
BM was “warned” several times but, each time, problems were “sorted out,” reports said. Yet on April 2, the FSA decided not to prosecute, a move that Huhne described as “astonishing.” According to the FSA, there were “insufficient grounds” to boost charges against BM.
Though shaken at the verdict, many who have followed this case closely realize that FSA itself now stands on shaky ground. Speculation is rife that FSA prioritized industry interests over human lives should its actions have weakened the country’s defenses against further onslaught of the bird flu virus.
The FSA was increasingly concerned about BM’s labor cutbacks following the outbreak. It turns out that the meat firm had accomplished a series of employment lay-offs to cushion the drop in sales. FSA juggled with the issues, prioritized smiling worker faces over labor union discontent, and left the public doubting the Agency’s ability and commitment to handle a serious public health threat.

That the bird flu virus was contained—this time-- was only through Faith’s good humor, sparing British Isles locals and tourists alike of bird flu transformed into the dreaded flu pandemic by negligence and hospitable climes.

Still, all it not cut out and dried, and I’m quite willing to see all sides of the issue. Maybe, the FSA was not readily swayed by economic forces that needed immediate gratification, made more pressing by the demands of other processed-poultry manufacturers also affected by the bird flu outbreak. Maybe, it looked at the bigger picture and far ahead for long-term consequences.

Still, I wonder if the FSA truly realized that, with its decision in the BM case, it risked far more than the loss of jobs at one meat processing plant?