Christmas turkey shortage? Hundreds of thousands of turkeys culled in UK’s worst bird flu outbreak

News November 30 from the Financial Associated Press (Editor Bian Chun)As well as Thanksgiving, eating turkey at Christmas is also a tradition in Western countries. However, Brits may have a tough time trying to get a Christmas turkey feast this year.

At the moment, the UK is suffering from the worst ever outbreak of bird flu, and around half of the local turkeys or geese prepared for Christmas have died or been culled.

Richard Griffiths, chief executive of the British Poultry Council, said in evidence to the Parliamentary Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,UK farmers typically move between 1.2 million and 1.3 million poultry back for Christmas, with around 600,000 currently being culled or dying from the bird flu virus.

Griffith also said that of the 8.5 million to 9 million turkeys raised for Christmas, more than 1 million were culled or died of disease.

Bird flu, which has been ravaging Britain for over a year but has accelerated in recent weeks, is deadly to poultry such as turkeys and geese. Currently, the United States, Japan, South Korea and many other countries are experiencing serious outbreaks of bird flu.

Supermarkets may face a severe turkey shortage

Griffiths is not sure what effect this will have on turkey prices, but he expects supply problems. “It’s a real problem for retailers. We don’t know how the retail gap is going to be filled.”

So far though the UK’s major supermarkets have remained relatively calm about meeting Christmas turkey demand. But one poultry farmer said,There will be a very, very short supply of free range turkeys on the shelves this year, and the supermarkets will be the most affected..

Griffiths, CEO of the British Poultry Association, said that there have been almost 140 cases of bird flu in the UK since the beginning of October and that 1.6 million birds have been culled. He said this meant huge costs to the poultry industry and food production.

He also pointed out that the number of cases of bird flu often reached double digits.

In an effort to combat bird flu, the UK government recently ordered that all poultry in England must be kept indoors.

The bird flu outbreak has also led to egg shortages. The British Stray Egg Producers Association said this month that egg shortages and rationing caused by bird flu are expected to continue beyond Christmas. Tesco and Asda, the UK’s largest supermarkets, have rationed eggs.