The Agriculture Ministry said lab tests confirmed H5N1 in turkeys at a farm of more than 11,000 birds in the southeast Ain region of France , , the EU's largest poultry producer.

Hundreds of birds died and the remainder were slaughtered even before the presence of the lethal virus was official. The farm has been sealed off.

However, Chirac said there is "no danger in eating poultry and eggs" and that panic among consumers is "totally unjustified".

"In any case, the virus in question . . . is automatically destroyed by cooking. So there is strictly no danger, " Chirac said as he opened the annual agriculture fair in Paris , , where poultry has been banned. Panic has developed among French consumers, with a drop of up to 30% in sales.