UK farmers call for EU workers to bypass Covid quarantine

Published Oct 21, 2020

Tridge summary

Poultry farmers in the UK are seeking government intervention to lift travel restrictions and allow around 1,000 specialised workers from the EU to enter the country for the holiday season. These workers are crucial for the processing of nearly 9 million British turkeys reared for Christmas. The British Poultry Council warns that without these workers, there could be a shortage of birds or a significant increase in prices. The potential impact includes a threat to the affordability of poultry meat and concerns over consumer demand due to smaller festive gatherings amid the pandemic.

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Original content

Poultry farmers are urging the government to lift travel restrictions to allow hundreds of specialist EU turkey pluckers to fill jobs in the UK, with a warning that there could be a shortage of birds or higher prices if the restrictions are not waived. An urgent exemption from Covid-related quarantine is needed to avoid shortages of highly skilled turkey pluckers and butchers that could trigger the collapse of this year’s supply, says the British Poultry Council (BPC). Around 9m British turkeys are reared for Christmas each year but the seasonal sector cannot survive without non-UK labour, it warns. The proposed exemption would cover at least 1,000 seasonal workers who normally travel from Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia at the end of October to help slaughter, pluck and prepare birds destined for UK Christmas dinner tables. It says workers with typical two-month contracts will not come if they have to quarantine for two weeks upon ...

Source: TheGuardian