Where is Bernard Matthew's PR?!

I've been waiting and waiting but I've yet to see the Bernard Matthew's PR force get into gear and redeem the troubled brand.

The company has had somewhat of a crisis over the last couple of weeks due the outbreak of H5N1 at their farm in Suffolk. In these sort of situations you would expect a spokesperson to step up and shout out about what the company is doing to solve the situation, protect it's workers, protects it's customers etc etc. But there seems to have been a distinct lack of this from Bernard Matthews.

It's not that I expect the man himself to appear, but I certainly didn't expect to see two farm workers down the pub with a BBC journalist talking about the lack of information and protection from their employers.

Add to that all the confusion over whether their food is safe to eat, there seems to be a 'no it isn't', 'yes, it is' battle going on between various organisations at the moment.

And then came the accusations that poor condititons and the way birds are farmed in this country can increase the risk of outbreaks - what are customers supposed to think? Shouldn't there be some sort of defence or explanation from Bernard Matthews?

What about smaller, independent local poultry farmers? They need the big boys to step up, reassure the public and keep the whole industry running.

I admit I may have missed a statement from the company at some point, I'm sure they wouldn't remain silent, and they do have a Q&A on their website - but how many customers will log-on to this? I've certainly seen less from them in the press than I have from their disgruntled workers.

As I write this, investigations continue about the source of the outbreak - where are you Bernard Matthews??

Helen