Egg shortages could come as avian flu sweeps through Europe.
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LONDON — The traditional British Christmas dinner of fried chicken and turkey could be threatened as Britain deals with the impact of rising bird flu cases.
Fried, poached, scrambled and boiled eggs may not be on the menu as some UK supermarkets have warned that supplies could be disrupted, while grocers also move to increase chicken stocks. West before the festive season.
The UK’s second largest supermarket group by Sainsbury’s said it has ordered more turkeys to provide itself with a “buffer” as the holiday season approaches, while leading supermarket chain, Tescosaid in October it hopes to have enough turkeys for Christmas, according to Reuters.
Shoppers at discount store Lidl are reportedly only able to buy up to three boxes of eggs, while UK’s third-largest supermarket chain Asda has limited customers to two boxes per transaction.
The current outbreak of bird flu is the largest ever to occur in the UK and the government has ordered the destruction of all poultry and captive birds in the UK. kept indoors from November 7 to try to prevent a highly contagious disease.
Governments across Europe have culled poultry populations to limit the spread of bird flu. Nearly six million birds was killed in the Netherlands as of October 2021, while Spain, Bulgaria, Denmark and France have also been hit hard.
Nearly 50 million poultry have been killed in Europe this year as countries try to contain the outbreak, according to the EU’s Food Safety Authority.
