Supermarket warning: Bird flu outbreak expected to cause shortages of Christmas turkeys

Anyone fancy something to go?

In the run-up to Christmas, bird flu killed half of the free-range turkeys in the UK – and now there are doubts about supplies for the holidays.

The British Poultry Council told MPs on Tuesday that half of the country's 1.2 million free-range chickens had died in “the worst outbreak of the virus in history”.

Paul Kelly of Essex-based Kelly Turkeys warned MPs on the Environment Audit Committee that there would be “huge, huge shortages” of free-range turkeys in supermarkets over Christmas.

“Spot prices for imported turkey have doubled. Northern Europe is facing the same problems as we are,” he said.

To compensate for the expected shortage, turkeys are expected to be imported from abroad, which is associated with high prices.

Import prices have more than doubled in Poland, which could be reflected in retail prices in the UK, the Daily Mail reports.

Because of the disease, the government recently ordered all poultry and captive birds in England to be kept indoors.

Richard Griffiths, CEO of the British Poultry Council, told the committee: “This year is the worst outbreak of bird flu we have ever seen.

“We don’t currently know how to close the gaps in retail.”

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