As Avian flu spreads across the UK there has been a number of measures put in place to help stop the spread of the disease which can kill birds. There have also been reports that a number of supermarkets are rationing eggs in order to cope with demand.
Britain is currently facing the largest-ever outbreak of bird flu amid a huge rise in cases reported across commercial farms. As we head into the holiday period when consumers are hoping to be able to pick up their turkeys in time for the Christmas break, could this have an effect on supply?
Jack Bradley, 32, Director of Cleaver's Meats said that there is definitely a shortage of turkeys but that the business had predicted that this may be a problem and stocked up ahead of time. Cleaver Meats has a shop in Victoria Centre but they are at markets across Bulwell, Clifton, Hyson Green and Grantham among many others.
"There is 100 per cent a shortage at the moment and the price of turkey has gone through the roof because of the shortage. There is a turkey farm local to us who have been shut for two weeks because they cannot get enough turkeys to kill so they are having to lay staff off. Our order has been half filled so we have had to buy from somewhere else and pay more for it," he said.
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"It's not ideal but there is nothing that anyone can do about it. We should have plenty for Christmas but it's a big problem. People will either pay the price or they won't. Everyone has turkey for Christmas but if it outprices itself then they will move on to beef or pork. But we have loads of everything as we luckily saw this coming and we heard about this in the industry so we bought extra pallets for the freezer in October.
We have frozen ones but when it comes to fresh, it's going to be very hard to get hold of and it's going to be at a price."
Allen Hartshorne, a manager from M&L Butchers on Main Street in Bullwell says there is a shortage with prices rising. However, customers have switched to boneless turkey in recent years and the shop is fully stocked.
"There isn't really a shortage yet but the prices have gone up. We put in our Christmas order for turkeys last week along with roasting chickens but we've had to take a gamble on it by ordering different amounts of each. When people order, we cross it off the list and when they are gone, they are gone. We tell people every year not to leave it too late to get their order in," Allen said.
"We do still get people ordering big turkeys about three days beforehand. Most people are now going for boneless turkey breast but we have plenty of those. We do them every year and people prefer them as they are less hassle than a turkey as they don't take so long to cook."
"For example, one of the 10-pound weight chickens last year was £45 to £48 but this year they have to go out the door at £65. This is more or less a £20 increase. Turkeys haven't been as much but nearer the time this could change. We had to get our order in early with our supplier but anyone placing a late order might not be able to get in."
"We are struggling to get ducks and no one seems to have any at the moment."
Andrew Marsden, owner of Andrew Marsden Butchers is based in the Bridgeway Centre in West Bridgford. He says there is a shortage but the shop should have enough. However, supply meeting demand may be tricky and it's impossible to know if the situation will improve next year.
I believe there is a shortage in the industry with bird flu being present throughout the country as it decimated stocks of fresh turkey which people want for Christmas. We don't sell a lot of whole turkeys but do a lot of turkey crowns but I pre-ordered in advance so unless there is a major issue in the next few weeks, we should have enough," he said.
" We won't know what the situation will be next year with bird flu. At the moment, the way they deal with it is to close the area and destroy the flock to avoid it spreading to neighbouring areas. I know an egg supplier in Leicestershire who is on tenterhooks that it doesn't come his way as it's creeping up the countryside."
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