France says vigilant after UK bird flu outbreak

PARIS, Feb 5 (Reuters) France's farm minister today said an outbreak of deadly bird flu in eastern England called for vigilance and that the country was ready to boost measures aimed at halting the spread of the disease.

Britain gassed more than 150,000 turkeys at the weekend and extended restrictions on the movement of poultry to prevent the spread of H5N1 avian influenza.

''What is worrying is that it (bird flu) is indeed back on European Union soil,'' French Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau told RTL radio.

''That means not being concerned but being very vigilant,'' he added.

France's agriculture ministry has asked French food safety agency AFSSA to evaluate the threat posed by the outbreak, and Bussereau said he expected to receive a report later today.

''We will, of cource, adapt our measures as soon as AFSSA's advice is known,'' he said.

''That means we have alert levels. For the moment we ae on risk 'negligible 2' ... Depending on AFSSA's advice, we will move to a higher risk,'' he said.

Britain's Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs issued a statement yesterday saying it appeared the virus had been confined to the Bernard Matthews turkey farm in the eastern English town of Lowestoft.

United Nations officials have said they were not surprised by the outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza and said they have been expecting the virus to spread during the colder winter months, much as it did last year.

REUTERS DKA KN1616