The Government was today urged to take long-term action against cheap imports of poultry meat which, it is claimed, could decimate the district's food manufacturers.

The British Poultry Council led the calls in the wake of Cullingworth-based Bronte Foods being placed into administration, blaming the impact of imported meat.

More than 430 jobs are at risk at its head office and other sites in Haworth and Bradford.

It has struggled to compete on price with chicken products from countries such as Brazil and Thailand, where regulations on hygiene and animal welfare are less stringent.

On Friday, the European Commission imposed a temporary ban on chicken imports from Thailand after an outbreak of bird flu in the country, which it was feared could be passed to humans.

Today Peter Bradnock, chief executive of the British Poultry Council, said he was "saddened" by the demise of Bronte and called on the Government to act now to prevent other firms following suit.

He said the imported share of the market was "escalating rapidly" and "further consolidation" in the industry was inevitable. His comments were echoed by Bradford's Yorkshire Poultry Products, which produces Halal meat and employs around 50 staff. Director Jak Ali said imports were "causing mayhem in the industry".

"The Government has to do something about this," he said. "This problem has put us under a lot of pressure and things could get very, very bad. We need to encourage people to buy British chickens."

Councillor Simon Cooke, Bradford Council's executive member for the economy, is concerned because the problem goes beyond the traditional issue of cheap labour overseas.

Mr Bradnock said Bronte had been particularly hard-hit because it is one of the UK's leading producers of cooked chicken meat. The tariff on cooked products entering the European Union is even lower than that on raw meat, he said.

He said UK firms were increasingly subject to legislation such as employment laws, environmental protection and animal welfare, which had hugely increased the cost of production.

"This is a case of hypocrisy on the part of the legislators who are encouraging greater trade while, at the same time, imposing more and more legislation on domestic producers," he said. "We have really serious concerns that we should be requiring the same conditions of production for all meat that is on the plate of British consumers and not discriminating against domestic producers."

The UK now imports around 450,000 tonnes of poultry meat a year, predominantly from Thailand, Brazil and the Netherlands. "The rules that apply in these countries are far, far less stringent compared with ours or, in some cases, don't exist at all," Mr Bradnock added.

A spokesman for the Food Standards Agency said that all meat imported into the UK underwent the same quality standards checks on arrival in the country, but admitted it did not inspect factories overseas.

Administrators at Ernst & Young, who are running Bronte Foods, said they were still optimistic a buyer could be found for the company. No people have been redundant to date.