SUPERMARKETS have permission to sell frozen turkeys as fresh so no one goes without this Christmas.
Ministers have eased rules so birds slaughtered early to ensure supply can be defrosted before they hit shelves.
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It comes after avian flu killed half of Britain’s free-range turkeys — around 600,000 — and led to thousands more being culled.
The decision by the Department for Environmental, Farming & Rural Affairs runs until New Year’s Eve.
Shops have put stickers on defrosted birds, in part due to safety concerns about freezing defrosted meat.
Tesco said its smaller crowns will be “sold fresh and marked defrosted” while fresh birds would be prepared in the normal way.
Morrisons confirmed it would label its unfrozen birds.
Sainsbury’s said: “We are confident we will have enough turkeys.”
Retailers told suppliers to kill birds early and freeze them after the extent of the avian flu outbreak emerged.
Asda moved all its birds out of Norfolk to protect them.
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Meanwhile, supermarkets and egg producers are to meet at Defra for talks over the current shortage.
Farmers say retailers are not paying enough for them to survive.
