Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Tuesday, Nov. 15. I’m Susanne Rust, a Bay Area-based environment reporter. And I can’t believe we’re nine days out from Thanksgiving, which has gotten me thinking about food — in particular, turkey.
About six weeks ago, I wrote a story about a highly pathogenic avian fluthat has made its way across the country and down the continent. About 50 million birds have died or been culled since the virus first appeared in North America last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the toll is likely to surpass the 2015 record of 50.5 million birds, as about twice as many states are affected this time around.
The flu has hit turkey farms — so, depending upon whether you’re hoping for a fresh, free-range turkey or a frozen one, it could also affect your Thanksgiving meal (or at least your wallet).
Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation (and a former newspaper reporter), said about 300,000 of the turkeys targeted for Thanksgiving have been culled. That’s roughly 10% of the 3 million California turkeys normally delivered this time of year — which is significant but shouldn’t stop anybody who wants to eat a turkey on Thanksgiving.
“It’s important that people reach out to their supermarket if they definitely want a fresh, free-range California bird, because those go first,” Mattos said.
Prices for fresh turkeys are likely to be about 80% higher than last year, he said, but bargains can probably be found for frozen turkeys. Supermarkets discount frozen birds this time of year to get shoppers into their stores, he said.
Finally, just a note about organic turkeys: Because of the avian flu, biosecurity is high right now at commercial farms. That means all birds are kept indoors.
“One of the qualifications for ‘organic’ is that the birds are free range, that they have access to the environment,” Mattos said. “Well, because of the bird flu — nationally and locally — that’s been altered to where birds can be grown indoors now. Just this time of year to get this through this whole flu season.”
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