A British Free range turkey (Jeremy Durkin/PA)
(Picture: PA Archive)A leading retail boss on Wednesday reassured consumers that there will be enough turkeys for Christmas amid fears that avian flu could cause a major shortage during the festive season.
The Government says 1.4 million turkeys have been culled so far this year following the outbreak of the disease, which scientists say is the largest ever seen in the UK.
But Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, played down fears that the flu would ruin people’s plans for Christmas Day.
“We have a very resilient retail industry and all of the producers and farmers that support them,” she told LBC.
“Retailers have been very aware of the impact of the avian flu which is causing some of those headlines, lots of them have been freezing plenty of turkeys to get them on to the shelves for Christmas and I don’t anticipate that we are going to see any problems.
“People will still be able to find what they need for their Christmas dinner, I’ve no doubt at all.”
British Poultry Council chief Richard Griffiths told MPs yesterday that 600,000 out of about 1.3m free range turkeys had been lost this year due to bird flu.
The government recently ordered all poultry and captive birds in England to be kept indoors to kerb the spread of the disease.
Speaking to the UK parliamentary committee on the environment, food and rural affairs, Mr Griffiths said costs to the industry were “potentially enormous”.
Farmers say they are not sure if there will be price rises but they expect supply issues regarding free range turkeys as a result.
Both the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the British Poultry Council stress the issue is with free range turkeys, and that there are no issues with supplies of other birds.
The BRC released new figures on Wednesday which showed UK food price inflation hit a new high of 12.4 per cent in November as the price of eggs, dairy products and coffee rose sharply.
