Families may be able to gather for Thanksgiving again after holding small celebrations in COVID-19 lockdown last year, but turkey may not be on the table.
According to the New York Post, meat producers are expecting a turkey shortage and food retailers are anxiously trying to stock up on the traditional holiday main course. This shortfall is expected to impact fresh turkeys under 16 pounds, said the outlet. These are usually the most popular choice for holiday meals.
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Why is there a shortage?
Production issues impacting the meat industry are the cause of the projected shortage, said to a July 26 letter from Shady Brook farms, one of the nation’s largest turkey suppliers, according to the New York Post.
Turkey farmers have been struggling with waning production for years due to slowing demand. These issues were made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, which the Post said reduced labor and increased costs.
“Multiple outbreaks of COVID-19 among meat and poultry processing facility workers have occurred in the United States recently,” said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to WebMD, meatpacking plants have been the source of at least 334,000 COVID-19 cases in the U.S.
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With less than three months to go until the holiday season, turkey producers are trying to decide how many birds to hatch as corn prices started going up, leading some to hatch less. Supermarkets are seeing their turkey orders slashed by as much as 50 percent, said the Post.
“Shady Brook told us they could only give us 50 percent of the turkeys we need and want for the holidays,” Stew Leonard, who owns the eponymous grocery chain, told The Post.
A spokesman for Cargill, which owns Shady Brook Farms said the shortage is a result of “continuing to manage tight labor markets while working to keep employees safe from the impacts of COVID-19 in the communities where they operate.”
Recent “news is not promising,” said the Shady Brook letter of the “status of fresh, whole turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
Get ready for leftovers
Smaller turkeys may be harder to come by this holiday season, but those who can’t imagine celebrating without turkey do have an option: large, frozen birds.
“Turkey is such a seasonal item, dominated by the Thanksgiving market,” explained David Anderson, a professor of agriculture economics at Texas A & M University. “We can build up supplies with frozen turkeys for the Thanksgiving market, but fresh turkeys have a tighter schedule. The eggs have to hatch at a certain time.”
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So, extra-large frozen turkeys weighing around 20 pounds will be easier to find, said the New York Post’s sources. However, these turkeys are labor intensive; they could take up to six days to prepare.
“You can get whatever you want if it’s a 20-pound turkey,” said Victor Colello, a meat buyer for Morton Williams. “I’m frustrated that we won’t get the most popular size bird. It’s just another hurdle we have to jump over.
I’ll probably have to break down some of the larger turkeys, to give people the parts they want.”
Larger turkeys are more readily available because the birds have been growing faster than the producers can process them, said Daniel Romanoff, president of Bronx-based meat distributor Nebraskaland, according to the Post.
“It’s a very precise schedule to get the turkey to the size of 14 pounds or less,” Romanoff said. “And the plants weren’t able to keep up with that size.”
Other options
If people do find small turkeys for their holiday feasts, the birds could be more expensive than usual.
Due to the shortage, some retailers turning to smaller turkey producers, like Jaindl Farms of Allentown, Penn., said the Post. The farm produces all-natural turkeys that are typically more expensive than birds from large suppliers, according to the outlet.
“Our customers are having trouble getting their Thanksgiving commitments from their vendors and are coming to us,” said owner David Jaindl, who says he’s been fielding calls from frantic customers over the past couple of months.
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