Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Christmas turkey in short supply
By Celeste Gorrell Anstiss
5:30 AM Sunday Dec 11, 2011
Tegel is in short supply of turkeys this Christmas after a bacterial infection hit one of its farms - for some shoppers, frozen birds will be the best they can get.
The Herald on Sunday can reveal 5000 birds died in the March outbreak, which took a week to get under control.
Tegel chief executive Andrew Stevens said the infection was brought into two sheds by rodents and wild birds.
"The integrity of the sheds was damaged [after the Christchurch earthquake]. We really lost a bit of control over the biosecurity for a while," he said. "These things can happen. It's the nature of farming unfortunately."
This was the first time the outbreak had been made public.
Stevens said he could give customers an absolute assurance the Tegel turkeys in supermarket freezers were safe to eat.
Frozen stock was being used to make up for the shortfall in fresh turkey, he added.
More...
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/food-wine/news/article.cfm?c_id=206&objectid=10772393
By Celeste Gorrell Anstiss
5:30 AM Sunday Dec 11, 2011
Tegel is in short supply of turkeys this Christmas after a bacterial infection hit one of its farms - for some shoppers, frozen birds will be the best they can get.
The Herald on Sunday can reveal 5000 birds died in the March outbreak, which took a week to get under control.
Tegel chief executive Andrew Stevens said the infection was brought into two sheds by rodents and wild birds.
"The integrity of the sheds was damaged [after the Christchurch earthquake]. We really lost a bit of control over the biosecurity for a while," he said. "These things can happen. It's the nature of farming unfortunately."
This was the first time the outbreak had been made public.
Stevens said he could give customers an absolute assurance the Tegel turkeys in supermarket freezers were safe to eat.
Frozen stock was being used to make up for the shortfall in fresh turkey, he added.
More...
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/food-wine/news/article.cfm?c_id=206&objectid=10772393