Late September last year, it was reported that a lack of labour in the poultry industry could lead to a Christmas turkey shortage.
The festive crisis was avoided due to the government’s visa scheme, which allowed several thousand poultry workers into the UK on three-month contracts.
But as one problem was solved, another was just getting started: a problem with seasonal food waste.
As the head of a leading food industry trade body, I take great interest in what’s happening in supermarkets. And so, rather than spending my Christmas Eve wrapping presents and making eggnog, I visited six stores representing a full range of retailers and was shocked to see the horrendous number of fresh turkeys still on sale – most with December 26 use-by dates.
Whilst some of the stock will have been destined for good causes, they won’t have been able to cope with the amount of stock I saw on my store visits. Nor would they have had much hope of using it before it went out of date.
Omicron led to many families changing their Christmas plans, leaving birds unsold. However, the sheer volume of unwanted turkey is just the tip of the food waste iceberg.
Britain wastes almost 6.5 million tonnes of good food every year – enough to fill Wembley Stadium 11 times. Experts agree reducing our weekly food waste by 30% would stop 4.5 million tonnes of CO2 polluting the atmosphere and contributing to climate change.
At Christmas, the situation gets even worse. A third of British consumers admit to throwing away more food than at any other time of year, leading to an estimated two million turkeys, 74 million mince pies and five million Christmas puddings ending up in the bin [Unilever]. As well as perfectly edible food going to waste, this depletes natural resources and leads to greenhouse gas emissions.
Buying frozen food can help in the fight against climate change. Sales boomed during lockdown, and with almost half a million more shoppers buying frozen food, sales have soared to over £7bn a year [Kantar 52 w/e 29 November 2020]. But few people realised they were also doing their bit for the planet.
Opting for frozen turkey at Christmas is a positive step producers, stores and consumers can make. They can be produced in the weeks leading up to Christmas, reducing the need for seasonal labour. They have a shelf life of up to two years with no impact on quality, and because we freeze the moment the turkey is processed, it’s at optimum quality.
Experts from the BFFF calculate buying frozen turkey, especially turkey crowns, significantly cuts festive food waste. If every one of the 17 million kilos of fresh turkey bought for Christmas 2020 was frozen, food waste would be reduced by 500 tonnes.
Refrigeration experts RD&T have looked at the carbon emissions for a typical UK Sunday roast for four people, consisting of chicken, carrots, peas and roast potatoes. They found the emissions of buying frozen are 5% lower than the fresh equivalent, suggesting a frozen Christmas dinner would also create less CO2.
And research published in the British Food Journal shows diets containing frozen food have 47% less food waste compared with fresh foods, with a typical household wasting 10.4% of fresh food and only 5.9% of frozen food.
Additional research into food supply chains conducted by Cranfield University reveals that by increasing the use of frozen broccoli in winter months, the UK could be 100% self-sufficient in broccoli production and could reduce associated carbon emissions by 15%.
Maybe as their new year’s resolution for 2022, supermarket buyers could commit to ordering more frozen turkey next Christmas. I know from experience this would make a massive dent in food waste: we have a Tesco Finest turkey crown in the freezer purchased this year, with a use-by date of August 2023. So, if we don’t eat it at Easter, it will certainly be on our table next Christmas.
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