Bernard Matthews fronts ad push

Bernard Matthews started appearing in television adverts in 1981

Bernard Matthews has taken out full-page advertisements in national newspapers to send a personal message that his turkey is safe to eat.

His poultry business has been criticised for lapses in hygiene standards since bird flu was discovered at its Suffolk farm last month.

In the adverts, Mr Matthews said that "because of recent events I realise that you need to hear from me".

He appeared in his first TV ad in 1981, describing turkey roast as "bootiful".

Bad publicity

But Mr Matthews has not appeared personally in an ad campaign for 10 years and the firm's latest move reflects its concern at the negative publicity of recent weeks.

Sales of fresh turkey fell 30% in the week following the outbreak, which resulted in the culling of about 160,000 birds.

Despite this, the Food Standards Agency has always maintained that cooked turkey and other poultry remains safe to eat.

Since the start of the scare, Bernard Matthews has laid off more than 200 workers.

Mr Matthews is still chairman of the company but said in the advert that now that he was in his seventies he relied "on my strong management team".