About 600,000 birds have been culled or died in the UK’s worst outbreak of avian influenza, an industry chief says.
Image source, Getty ImagesHalf of the free range turkeys produced for Christmas in the UK have been culled or have died due to bird flu, an industry chief has told MPs.
Richard Griffiths, chief executive of the British Poultry Council, said that 600,000 out of about 1.3 million free range birds had been lost.
The government recently ordered all poultry and captive birds in England to be kept indoors to fight avian flu.
Mr Griffiths said costs to the industry were “potentially enormous”.
There are expected to be supply issues regarding free range turkeys as a result, but farmers say they are not sure if there will be price rises.
Defra and the British Poultry Council stress the issue is with free range turkeys, and there are no issues about supplies of other birds.
Richard Griffiths was speaking to the UK parliamentary committee on the environment, food and rural affairs.
He said about 36% of poultry farms in the country were now covered by some form of control, whether they’ve been affected or not.
“So it’s huge and the costs for industry and food production are potentially enormous,” he said.