Avian Flu

Because of the current challenges of Avian Flu this year, we have killed some of our birds a bit earlier than usual, and frozen them. They will be defrosted ready for collections in Christmas Week. The birds affected will be clearly labelled as ‘defrosted’ and will still be suitable for home freezing, as long as you follow the instructions provided and practice good food hygiene.

Food Hygiene advice for consumers handling all poultry, including chilled and previously frozen Christmas Turkey, duck, Capon and geese products:

• Wash your hands thoroughly before and after handling raw poultry meat.
• Don’t wash whole birds or poultry meat products
• Check the use-by-date (All our poultry will be use-by 25th December)
• Follow the storage instructions on the label, and only freeze chilled poultry meat if the label says it is suitable for home freezing.
• If your bird is frozen, check the label, as some smaller birds can be cooked from frozen.
• You may need to allow extra time to defrost a large bird before cooking. Plan this in advance, as a whole turkey can take between 3 to 5 days to properly defrost in a fridge.
• Follow the cooking instructions, and make sure it’s steaming hot throughout.

Bird Flu advice for Consumers

Properly cooked poultry and poultry products including your Christmas turkey, duck, Capon or goose, are safe to eat. Bird flu poses a very low food safety risk for UK consumers, and it does not change the FSA’s advice on consumption of poultry products.

General