Prince George, B.C. – It is that time of year when plans are being made for the holiday  dinner.

Turkey is a staple for  the Christmas feast,  and  news of  H5, Avian flu,  at four  poultry  farms in the Fraser Valley, has some concerned  turkey will be hard to come by  this season.

This week, more than 18 thousand birds at farms in Abbotsford and Chilliwack  had  to be destroyed because of avian flu.  There has been no word yet on  how many more birds at the other two  farms now under quarantine will suffer the  same fate.

In Prince George, local independent  butcher  Ben Klassen of Homesteader Meats says he isn’t worried about his supply of  turkey “I get mine from the Peace Region of B.C., and  from Lillydale farms  in the Edmonton area so I don’t rely on the Fraser Valley producers.”

Although  there  has been speculation about the possibility of there being a shortage of turkeys because of the Fraser Valley situation, the scenario in the Fraser Valley will have to play out before the  full impact can be known.

Test results from the two latest farms to be added to the quarantine list won’t be released until later this week.  As 250 News reported yesterday, Dr. Harpreet Kochhar, the Chief Veterinary Officer with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency  said it is too soon to say if this virus has spread to other regions “We will continue to survey the situation and now it’s more a case of let’s just restrict this to the Fraser Valley.”

According to the Turkey Farmers of Canada,  last  Christmas, Canadians purchased 4 million whole turkeys.  That’s about 48% of all whole turkeys sold for the entire year in Canada.