Outbreaks of avian influenza in both kept and wild birds are occurring at an unprecedented scale across Europe and the UK, with cases confirmed this autumn as the second year of an outbreak for the first time.

In Shropshire, thankfully no cases have yet been found this autumn in poultry farms or small-scale bird keepers’ flocks. The outbreak in recent weeks has been primarily driven by wild birds in particular geese as migratory patterns increase.

Bird Flu is devastating for affected poultry farmers, who produce over half of the meat we eat in the UK. The Government are taking what steps they can to mitigate the costs farmers face and slow the spread of the outbreak, with a compensation scheme introduced in October to encourage early culling of diseased flocks.

In England, the Rural Payments Agency are also providing a support payment scheme to support those farmers most in need.

With Christmas around the corner, many people will soon be looking to secure their turkeys for Christmas and will understandably be concerned over availability and safety of consuming poultry while Bird Flu is rife.

I have been assured by Government Ministers that there is no immediate threat to the food supply chain as a result of the current outbreak, with the measures introduced helping to mitigate any potential risk to the supply of seasonal poultry for the Christmas market.

The UK Health Security Agency have advised that the strain of bird flu in circulation, H5N1, poses very low risk to public health while the Food Standards Agency has confirmed that there is no food safety risk for UK consumers.

An easement has also been made relating to marketing rules to allow farmers who supply turkeys, geese, ducks and capons for consumption to slaughter, freeze and defrost birds to sell during December, which will further ease the strain on producers.

We produce 11 million turkeys a year in the UK, of which over half, plus the 200,000 geese and 100,000 ducks bought around the Christmas period are sold frozen, which will also help to mitigate concerns.

This week, I spoke to local butchers to discuss any concerns, and was pleased to lean that currently none have experienced supply problems.

Last week, additional housing measures came into force across England, requiring bird keepers to take a range of biosecurity measures, including keeping birds indoors, whether commercial flocks, pet birds or simply a few chickens in the back garden. I urge all bird keepers to familiarise themselves with these legal requirements and comply with biosecurity measures to help manage this virulent animal health disease.