‘The Turkey Shortage of 2013’ could be to blame if you find your Thanksgiving bird a little lacking this year. Butterball says its supply of large fresh turkeys is a a bit short this Thanksgiving, but promises the problem will be resolved by Christmas.
Butterball and its partners do have an ample supply of turkeys, it said in a statement, but “there may be limited availability on some larger sizes of fresh turkeys.”
“We experienced a decline in weight gains on some of our farms causing a limited availability of large, fresh turkeys,” it said. “While we are continuing to evaluate all potential causes, we are working to remedy the issue. We sincerely regret the inconvenience that some of our customers have experienced as a result of this issue.”
Large turkeys are deemed 16 pounds and bigger.
Big Y, a nationwide grocer which first publicly discussed the shortage, recommends that customers that typically buy large fresh Butterball turkeys might want to consider switching to another fresh brand or a frozen Butterball this year.
But the National Turkey Federation moved to calm people’s fear.
“If you look at the industry, 85 percent of the whole bird turkeys — what we eat at Thanksgiving — is frozen, flash frozen. And it is available in all sizes and in all the brands. Those have been ready, plentiful and stocked in the grocery stores,” said Keith Williams, spokesperson for the National Turkey Federation.
“That leaves 15% of the market for fresh turkeys and if you think about it there’s going to be a portion of that 15 percent that’s going by any one particular company.”
Butterball is one of the major providers of Turkeys, producing about 41 million a year, or 16 percent of the U.S. market, reports Fox News.
On Thanksgiving, nearly 25 percent of the turkeys consumed are Butterballs.
The company expects the production problems to be solved for Christmas.
