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UK turkey producer Bernard Matthews has announced it will slash up to 160 jobs—8% of its workforce—in its effort to raise profits, according to The Financial Times of London. It reported a 2008 operating profit of just £857,000 as it recovered from a 2007 H5N1 influenza outbreak that resulted in the culling of 159,000 turkeys and a £9.6M ($15.3M) annual loss.
Bernard Matthews reports that turkey consumption has dropped by half in the last decade, with the average resident of the United Kingdom eating only 2.8 kilograms of turkey annually, down from 5.9 kilograms in 1998.