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Why you could be forced to make do with frozen turkey this Christmas

Steve Childerhouse, 50, a turkey farmer in Norfolk, has told of his devastation at being forced to cull his entire flock of 10,000 turkeys destined for UK Christmas dinner tables - Tom Maddick / SWNS
Steve Childerhouse, 50, a turkey farmer in Norfolk, has told of his devastation at being forced to cull his entire flock of 10,000 turkeys destined for UK Christmas dinner tables - Tom Maddick / SWNS

A menu of frozen turkey awaits Britons this Christmas amid a raging avian flu outbreak that will force all captive birds in England inside as part of a lockdown to tackle the disease.

England is currently in the grip of “the largest ever outbreak of bird flu”, according to health authorities, and from November 7 all non-wild birds will be subject to a nationwide housing order.

Rife infection and vast culls means turkey shortages are possible over the festive period and shoppers may struggle to find, have to pay more for, and settle for frozen when it comes to their Christmas bird.

There have been 80 cases of avian flu since the start of October and millions of commercial birds have been culled in the last year, forcing the Government to step in to try and keep captive and wild birds separate due to the “catastrophic” outbreak among feral populations.

Farmers are now warning that the situation, dubbed the “Covid of the poultry industry”, will force farmers to kill their birds earlier, freeze them and thaw them out before Christmas.

Others have warned that such is the financial risk posed by the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza strain that farmers may not bother farming Christmas poultry next year as the risk of financial ruin is too high.

“We are now facing this year, the largest ever outbreak of bird flu and are seeing rapid escalation in the number of cases on commercial farms and in backyard birds across England,” said Christine Middlemiss, the UK’s Chief Veterinary Officer.

“The risk of kept birds being exposed to disease has reached a point where it is now necessary for all birds to be housed until further notice.

“Whether you keep just a few birds or thousands, from Monday 7 November onwards you must keep yours indoors. This decision has not been taken lightly, but is the best way to protect your birds from this highly infectious disease.”

English farmers have been battling bird flu for some time, with cases rising over recent weeks and around a third of free range turkeys culled due to the virus.

Richard Griffiths, the chief executive of the British Poultry Council, told the Today Programme that a housing order will help stem the outbreak and safeguard Christmas dinner.

He said the Government’s move to allow farmers to kill their flock earlier than normal, and freeze them before thawing them out for Christmas sale, “allows people to get started early”.

“It has to be very clearly labelled, so ‘it has been previously frozen’. What we can’t do is mislead the consumer in any way,” Mr Griffiths told the BBC.

“What this does for the industry is really help us plan and get the process going so as to essentially remove birds from the risk of avian influenza and make sure more of them are getting to Christmas.”

The commercial freedom of the frozen label means there will be a stockpile in place by Christmas, even if the price of birds, especially free range ones, goes up due to the flu-induced scarcity.

Steve Childerhouse, 51, rears birds on his 35-acre farm and has said families may struggle to get hold of festive birds this winter as the usual stock is “just not going to be there”.

“We supply a lot of butchers and farm shops, and we've told them we haven't got any. They're not selling any turkeys or geese this Christmas as they can't get them,” he said.

“It's going to have a massive impact on the Christmas market because they're just not going to be there. Even the big people are getting absolutely hammered by this. It's affecting the whole industry.”

Paul Kelly, Managing Director of KellyBronze Turkeys, told Farming Today that without a vaccine or an improved compensation scheme there would be severe repercussions.

“This is the Covid of the poultry industry except it is far more pathogenic and we need to get the vaccine fast tracked just as we did Covid and have one in place for next year, or have a compensation scheme that is fit for purpose,” he said.

“If that does not happen, I genuinely believe farmers will not be growing Christmas poultry next year, and I would not blame them for that. That would be the right commercial decision because the risks and the losses can bankrupt you. You’re playing roulette with the farm.”