Bernard Matthews Ltd
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Bernard Matthews Foods Limited is a British farming and food products business with its headquarters in
Great Witchingham Great Witchingham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, along the River Wensum. The civil parish also includes the smaller village on Lenwade. Great Witchingham is located north-east of Dereham and north-west of Nor ...
,
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
, England, which specialises in
turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
products. Founded by
Bernard Matthews Bernard Trevor Matthews CVO CBE QSM (24 January 1930 – 25 November 2010) was the founder of Bernard Matthews Foods, a company that is best known for producing turkey meat products. Early life Matthews was born in 1930 in Brooke, Norfolk, ...
in 1950, it has 56 farms throughout Norfolk,
Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
and
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
farming nearly 7 million turkeys each year. It also has poultry production operations in Derby and Sunderland. The company breeds and rears both indoor and free range turkeys on its farms, and is an integrated agricultural business.


History

The company was founded in 1950 by Bernard Matthews from his home with his wife, twenty turkey eggs and an incubator. In 1955, its headquarters were moved to its present location, Great Witchingham Hall near
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
. Bernard Matthews entered the
Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...
in 1960 as the biggest turkey farmer in Europe. In 1971, the company was
publicly listed A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (li ...
. In 1980, they launched their first TV commercial featuring Turkey Breast Roast, with Matthews himself introducing the famous 'Bootiful' catchphrase in his thick
Norfolk accent East Anglian English is a dialect of English spoken in East Anglia, primarily in or before the mid-20th century. East Anglian English has had a very considerable input into modern Estuary English. However, it has received little attention from t ...
. Bernard Matthews successfully fought off a take-over bid from US food giant
Sara Lee Sara may refer to: People * Sara (given name), a feminine given name People with the given name * Sara Aboobacker (1936–2023), Indian writer and translator * Sara Ahmed (born 1969), British-Australian writer * Sara Allgood (1880–1950), Ir ...
in 2000. The following year, the company was bought back by the Matthews family and made private again. Contract workers were convicted of animal cruelty in 2006 for playing 'baseball' with live turkeys. There were further troubles in 2007, when the company's farm in Holton suffered an outbreak of the
H5N1 Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 (A/H5N1) is a subtype of the influenza A virus, which causes the disease avian influenza (often referred to as "bird flu"). It is enzootic (maintained in the population) in many bird populations, and also panzoo ...
strain of
avian influenza Avian influenza, also known as avian flu or bird flu, is a disease caused by the influenza A virus, which primarily affects birds but can sometimes affect mammals including humans. Wild aquatic birds are the primary host of the influenza A viru ...
. The same year, the company's factory B plant closed, with staff moved to A plant, causing many to leave or be relocated at its parent plant up the road. By July 2008, the company had re-branded itself from ''Bernard Matthews Foods'' to ''Bernard Matthews Farms'', and stated that all its turkey products would be made with British turkey from its own farms. The company also unveiled a plan to reposition the company comprising three key elements: refocusing on British Turkey farming and production, making products that claim to better meet the needs of consumers today, and championing British agriculture. In January 2010, Bernard Matthews resigned from the post of chairman, coinciding with his 80th birthday. In April that year, the company began a new advertising campaign, bringing back its 'Bootiful' catchphrase that had previously been used between 1980 and 2007. On 25 November 2010, founder Bernard Matthews died. The business was bought out by turnaround experts, Rutland Partners in September 2013. In September 2016, the company was sold to an investment company owned by
Ranjit Singh Boparan Ranjit Singh Boparan ( Punjabi: ਰਨਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਬੋਪਰਨ, born 24 August 1966) is a British businessman, and the founder and owner of 2 Sisters Food Group with his wife Baljinder Kaur Boparan. Known as the "Chicken King" in ...
for £87.5 million.


Operations

Bernard Matthews has four main operating sites within the UK:
Great Witchingham Great Witchingham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, along the River Wensum. The civil parish also includes the smaller village on Lenwade. Great Witchingham is located north-east of Dereham and north-west of Nor ...
(Norfolk), Holton (Suffolk),
Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...
(Derbyshire) and
Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...
(
Tyne & Wear Tyne and Wear () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The county is ...
). Bernard Matthews Limited is based in the East of England and produces a range of fresh, cooked and frozen turkey products which it sells across the UK. It employs around 2,200 staff and farms around 7 million turkeys per annum. It has 56 turkey farms and two production sites located in Norfolk and Suffolk. Bernard Matthews Limited is Assured Food Standards (Red Tractor) accredited and its production sites have
ISO 14001 The ISO 14000 family is a set of international standards for Natural environment, environment management systems. It was developed in March 1996 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ...
accreditation. The Derby and Sunderland sites joined Bernard Matthews in October 2021. Past Operations Bernard Matthews Oldenburg is based in the north of Germany. It produces a range of fresh, cooked and frozen poultry products which it sells across Germany and northern Europe. The operation was sold to Sprehe group in July 2016 for £11.9 million and still operates under the Bernard Matthews brand. SáGa Foods is based in northwest Hungary and employs around 800 staff. It produces a range of poultry products which it sells across Central Europe. It was part of the Bernard Matthews group from 2003 until January 2020 when the business was sold to Mastergood, a Hungarian poultry producer.


Products

The company produces a range of cooked, fresh and frozen British turkey, including products such as oven-ready whole birds, joints, cooked re-formed meats, and meal accompaniments, which accounts for over 90% of the business. Bernard Matthews also produces
chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...
products which are made with meat sourced from partners in South America.
Fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...
was another product they once had in the 90s and 2000s with ''Golden Fishies'' before discontinuing. Bernard Matthews Farms produces turkey for leading UK grocery supermarket chains for use under their own retail brands, and also for businesses supplying the out-of-home foodservice market. Under the "Golden Norfolk Turkey" brand, Bernard Matthews Farms provides a frozen turkey range including whole birds in a variety of sizes, plus crowns and joints, basted and stuffed. New products under the Farms brand introduced in 2009 included several new seasonings, and an apricot and date stuffing.


Turkey Twizzlers

One of Bernard Matthews' formed-meat products, Turkey Twizzlers, containing 34% turkey, became synonymous with cheap food for children. They became a subject of debate in 2005, when they were singled out for particular criticism by
celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in Books, printed publications. While telev ...
Jamie Oliver Jamie Trevor Oliver Order of the Star of Italy, OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English celebrity chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and o ...
in his television series ''
Jamie's School Dinners ''Jamie's School Dinners'' is a four-episode documentary series that was broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom from 23 February to 16 March 2005. The series was recorded from Spring to Winter of 2004 and featured British celebrity chef ...
''. The product became an emblem of the mass-produced processed food that Oliver wanted to remove from school meals. In the wake of the programme, several major catering organisations announced that they would no longer serve Turkey Twizzlers in schools. Bernard Matthews discontinued the product in 2005 to avoid any further criticism and negative press coverage, although the publicity had increased consumption. In 2020, Bernard Matthews' relaunched the Turkey Twizzler brand, and they went back on sale in Iceland Stores and other major retailers in the United Kingdom.


Animal welfare

On 7 September 2006, two contract workers were convicted of animal cruelty after being covertly filmed by a member of staff from
Hillside Animal Sanctuary Hillside Animal Sanctuary, based in Frettenham, Norwich, and with a site at West Runton, North Norfolk, is the United Kingdom's largest home for different kinds of farm animals and horses. The vegan-run sanctuary is funded entirely on public don ...
, playing 'baseball' with live turkeys. The two men were sentenced to a 200-hour
community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community contributing to a noble cause. In many cases, people doing community service are compensated in other ways, such as gettin ...
which was later criticised as being 'derisory' by some
animal welfare Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...
organisations. Palmer's and Allan's defence lawyer, Simon Nicholls, stated that their actions were part of a 'culture' at the Norfolk plant and, describing the conditions in the unit as "appalling", said: "You can see why people move to an organic, more open type of farming." In response, the company took out a newspaper advertisement condemning the animal cruelty, stating that the men concerned were sub-contractors, and that none of its employees abused livestock. A spokesman stated that they were committed to the "highest standards" of animal welfare.


Avian flu outbreak

The 2007 Bernard Matthews H5N1 outbreak was an occurrence of
avian flu Avian influenza, also known as avian flu or bird flu, is a disease caused by the influenza A virus, which primarily affects birds but can sometimes affect mammals including humans. Wild aquatic birds are the primary host of the influenza A vir ...
in England that began on 30 January 2007. The infection was caused by the
H5N1 Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 (A/H5N1) is a subtype of the influenza A virus, which causes the disease avian influenza (often referred to as "bird flu"). It is enzootic (maintained in the population) in many bird populations, and also panzoo ...
subtype of the
Influenza A ''Influenza A virus'' (''Alphainfluenzavirus influenzae'') or IAV is the only species of the genus ''Alphainfluenzavirus'' of the virus family '' Orthomyxoviridae''. It is a pathogen with strains that infect birds and some mammals, as well as c ...
virus and occurred at one of Bernard Matthews' farms in Holton,
Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
. A range of precautions were instituted including a large cull of turkeys, the imposition of segregation zones, and a disinfection programme for the plant. It emerged in a highly critical report from Defra that there was a series of biosecurity failings at the Holton plant, some of which had been drawn to the company's attention in the past."Bernard Matthews faces prosecution for failures at bird flu plant"
Philippe Naughton, Times Online, 16 February 2007
Though the cause of the outbreak has not been determined, Bernard Matthews regularly transported turkeys and turkey products between the UK and its plant in Hungary, and the H5N1 bird flu strains found in Hungary and Britain were effectively genetically identical. Consequences of the outbreak included bans by a number of countries on the importation of poultry from Britain, a sharp fall in sales of Bernard Matthews products resulting in workers being laid off and a collapse in confidence in the brand.


Food Safety

A Channel 4 Dispatches investigation broadcast in December 2023 sending two undercover reporters into a Bernard Matthews factory in Suffolk. Employees were recorded falsifying safety records and instructing the recruited reporters to do the same. Inspected frozen food that was -2 degrees Celsius was recorded as -18. An employee was recorded kicking a piece of turkey that had fallen from the production line and then picking it up and discarding it before touching an active conveyor belt carrying food with the same gloves. Both the undercover reporters found that food was contaminated with plastic and machinery to detect metal in products was defective, but neither was investigated when brought to the attention of superiors.


References


External links

* {{Authority control Meat companies of the United Kingdom Food brands of the United Kingdom Companies based in Norfolk Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 Food and drink companies established in 1950 Poultry farming in the United Kingdom 1950 establishments in England Poultry companies Brand name poultry meats Poultry farming British companies established in 1950