Free range key to firm's recovery

Bernard Matthews said free-range poultry was "more sustainable"

A Norfolk poultry producer is to increase production of free-range birds in a bid to recover from a sales slump.

Bernard Matthews said the move was in response to concerns about avian flu and TV documentaries about conditions for intensively-reared poultry.

A spokesman said it plans to farm more free-range birds and improve welfare in a "drive towards sustainability".

The firm, which has sites in Norfolk and Suffolk, said on Tuesday it would cut 90 head office jobs near Norwich.

Bad publicity

The spokesman added: "Bernard Matthews has... committed to farming more free-range turkeys and working with independent welfare organisations to further improve bird welfare standards."

Celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have both recently presented television programmes that attacked intensive poultry production.

The company was also criticised by animal welfare organisations after two contractors appeared in court on animal cruelty charges after being filmed playing baseball with live birds.

In 2005, the company's Turkey Twizzlers product was strongly criticised by Oliver, who was leading a campaign to make school meals more healthy.