People who get ahead and buy their turkeys and other festive birds early and freeze them are being warned of a major safety change. The Food Standards Agency has warned that as a result of bird flu it has allowed some birds to be frozen then defrosted before being sold as chilled.
While many of these can still be refrozen at home, some will no longer be suitable. Affected products should be clearly labelled as "defrosted" and are suitable for home freezing if it says so on the label.
The FSA's says the move is temporary and information will be available for customers. It said: "This temporary change will apply to some turkey, duck, capon and goose products on sale from 28 November to 31 December and does not apply to chicken."
The advice, which applies only to England and Wales, comes after the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Welsh Government announced a range of measures to help support the poultry industry with the current challenges presented by bird flu. Millions of birds have already been culled as a result of the virus sweeping across the country.
Narriman Looch, Head of Foodborne Disease Control at the FSA said: “Like other poultry, these defrosted products will be perfectly safe for you and your family to eat as long as you follow the instructions on the label and practice good food hygiene.
"This is different to our usual advice of not refreezing raw meat thawed at home as the food industry has specialist equipment to very quickly freeze, then defrost these products in controlled conditions. Home freezers are less efficient so defrosting and refreezing raw meat at home could allow the growth of harmful germs.”
Andrea Martinez-Inchausti, Deputy Director for Food at the BRC, said: “Retailers are taking active steps to ensure that their customers are able to enjoy turkey during the festive season. By killing birds a bit earlier and freezing them, these products can be defrosted and sold in the run up to Christmas without worries about the impact of avian flu on supply.”
How to prepare birds safely
The FSA has issued advice on how to handle all poultry, including chilled and previously frozen Christmas turkey, duck, capon and geese products. It says:
- Wash your hands before and after handling raw poultry meat
- Don’t wash whole birds or poultry meat products
- Check the use-by date
- Follow the storage instructions on the label, and only freeze chilled poultry meat if the label says it is suitable for home freezing
- If your bird is frozen, check the label, as some smaller birds can be cooked from frozen
- You may need to allow extra time for defrost a large bird before cooking. Plan this in advance, as a whole turkey can take between 3 to 5 days to properly defrost.
- Follow the cooking instructions, and make sure it’s steaming hot throughout.
Bird flu advice for consumers
Properly cooked poultry and poultry products including your Christmas turkey, duck, capon or goose, are safe to eat. Bird flu poses a very low food safety risk for UK consumers, and it does not change the FSA’s advice on consumption of poultry products.
For more tips on storing, defrosting, cooking your Christmas dinner and what to do with any leftovers visit food.gov.uk
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