REWRITE OF PA COPY

SIX thousand ducks have been culled on a farm at Nafferton, near Driffield, after bird flu was confirmed.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has identified it as the same H5N8 strain that has been found on a chicken farm in the Netherlands and Germany. It said it is of very low risk to human health and no risk to the food chain.

The farm at Nafferton is operated by Cherry Valley, the UK's largest producer of duck and duck products, and Nigel Gibbens, the Government's chief veterinary officer, said it had good bio-security in place so the risk of spread was "probably quite low".

John Vernam, Cherry Valley's managing director of UK Operations, said the company was keen to find out how the outbreak had happened.

"We have followed all the necessary procedures which are robust and well established," he said, "For now, the priority is observing the two exclusion zones around the farm and the sanitary measures in place.

"There is complete traceability in the supply chain and any eggs that have left the site will be tested and the necessary procedures will be undertaken. We are working closely with Defra and other agencies and are confident that the controls in place are proportionate to the risks involved."

This week's cull at the farm, where the alarm was raised by a private vet on Friday of last week, followed a ban on the transport of poultry and eggs throughout the Netherlands which was imposed on Sunday following the H5N8 outbreak in Utrecht.

Officials are investigating how the virus reached East Yorkshire, whether it could have been the result of the commercial transport of birds or carried by wild birds which are also affected by bird flu - because of that risk farmers and vets all over the country have been put on alert.