B.C.’s turkey supply plentiful, diverse heading into Thanksgiving weekend: Industry board

Despite looming avian flu concerns, this year’s Thanksgiving centrepiece will be abundant and of a wide variety, according to the BC Turkey Marketing Board.

Natalie Veles, executive director of the board, says higher rates of production this year mean shoppers don’t need to stress about finding the perfect bird.

“We have strong production this year on our farms and that includes both hen and tom turkeys of varying weight classes,” Veles said. “So from our end, we don’t see any shortages for particular size categories for turkey.”

As of Sept. 21, over seven million flock birds in Canada had been affected by the avian flu. Over three million of those infected birds were from B.C., which is the highest number found in all of the provinces.

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According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the import of bird by-products from certain regions with active outbreaks has been restricted since February last year. The CFIA also notes avian flu is not a food safety concern and there’s no evidence that eating cooked poultry or eggs could transfer the flu to humans.

There’s currently one “infected premise” in B.C. and a total of eight in Canada, according to the CFIA.

Overall, a lack of avian flu in B.C. right now means supply is looking good and retail prices for turkey are anticipated to remain stable, Veles says. However, she says this doesn’t mean producers have been able to let their guard down.

“Producers are still being very vigilant because the threat is still out there, and they need to maintain high-brow security.”

-With files from Ben Bouguerra