XMAS STUFFED

Half of turkeys lost to bird flu

TRADITIONAL Christmas dinners are at risk after half of the free range turkeys grown for the festive period have been hit by bird flu.

Poultry farmers said there is a “big, big shortage” as whole flocks have been wiped out in the worst-ever outbreak.

Industry bosses said 600,000 of around 1.2 million free range birds due to be sold this Christmas have died or been culled.

In all, around one million of the 8.5 million to 9 million total turkey supply has been affected.

British Poultry Council chief executive Richard Griffiths told a Commons hearing the problem is “huge”.

“This year is the worst bird flu outbreak we’ve seen,” he told MPS.

“Around 1.6 million birds have been culled because of bird flu on farms. It’s huge and the costs for industry and food production are potentially enormous.”

He said around 36% of poultry farms are under restrictions linked to bird flu. Paul Kelly, who runs Kelly Turkeys in Colchester, Essex, said the spread of the outbreak is “devastating”.

The farmer, nicknamed the King of Turkeys, warned: “There will be a big shortage of British free range turkeys on the shelves this year. We have one farm with 9,500 turkeys. The first infection was on Thursday evening and by Monday lunchtime they were all dead.”

Mr Kelly warned supplies could be hit again next year, with many farmers not wanting to breed turkeys for Christmas in case it puts their livelihood at risk.

“We’re a small business and we’ve lost £1.2million this year, just turkeys that have died,” he said. “Luckily we’re going to get through to next year but can we take the risk to grow Christmas poultry based on this year? We couldn’t.

“Looking to next year, I don’t want to put the farm at risk.

“Without a vaccine or a compensation scheme, I don’t know whether we would have the confidence.”

A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesman said: “We are working closely with turkey farmers to provide the support they need.”