Britain faces a turkey shortage for Christmas

The UK could face a shortage of turkeys at Christmas due to a shortage of workers in the industry, British Poultry Union chairman Graham Dear said at a meeting of the British Parliament's profile committee.
“We will do our best to ensure a normal Christmas, but a shortage is quite likely,” he said.
The head of the British Poultry Union recalled that the government has approved the issuance of temporary visas for foreign workers, but this scheme is valid until December 31. “But the fact is that the bird is needed not only at Christmas, but every day of the week,” said Deer. In his opinion, the extension of the period of temporary visas from six weeks to two years would contribute to solving the problem.

In turn, National Pig Association adviser Charlie Durist pointed to a similar problem in his sector. According to him, the shortage of labor leads to an increasing accumulation of animals on farms. “Now we have over 150,000 pigs on farms, many of which have reached capacity limits,” he said.

The British Meat Producers Association (BMPA) estimates that the country is short of 10,000 butchers, and it takes 18 months to train and hire a fully qualified butcher.

The UK is facing a labor shortage amid the coronavirus pandemic and the outflow of population due to Brexit. According to a report prepared by organizations in the food industry in Britain, the average vacancy rate is 13%, and the total number of vacancies can exceed 500,000 (4.1 million people are employed in the industry).

Representatives of the UK trade industry called on the government to organize a summit to solve the problem with food supplies caused by a shortage of labor. As the head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, William Bain, said, structural problems are so significant that risks to supply chains will increase as Christmas approaches.

Previously, the largest food associations in the UK have asked the British authorities to introduce a 12-month visa to recover from COVID-19 . However, as RIA Novosti was informed in the British Ministry of the Interior, the authorities do not intend to introduce such a visa. At the same time, the UK government approved the issuance of 800 short-term visas for butchers and 5.5 thousand visas for poultry workers.