If you're planning on serving your family a fresh turkey this Thanksgiving, you may be hard pressed to find one available at your local supermarket.
Just in time for the biggest turkey-eating day of the year, Butterball has announced a bird shortage. The company informed supermarkets across the country of a shortage of its fresh turkeys that weigh in at 16 or more pounds, according to the Associated Press.
"Butterball and its retail partners have ample supply of frozen whole turkeys of all sizes small, medium or large," Butterball said in a statement. "While there may be limited availability on some larger sizes of fresh turkeys, Butterball has shipped 100 percent of customer orders of frozen whole turkeys and products are in distribution across the country."
The company is cutting all orders by 50 percent to meet the demand as best it can. The company said many of their birds had trouble gaining weight during the production process.
"We experienced a decline in weight gains on some of our farms, causing a limited availability of large, fresh turkeys," Butterball said in a statement to ABC News. "We sincerely regret the inconvenience that some of our customers have experienced as a result of this issue."
According to one retailer, Butterball informed them last week, after they'd placed their order in June, casuing many supermarkets to scramble.
"All of us at Big Y will do our best to ensure that our customers have a wonderful turkey for their Thanksgiving meal," Guy McFarlane, Big Y's vice president of fresh foods, said in a press release. "Our butchers stand ready to assist customers not only with their turkey selection but cooking tips as well. We are confident that everyone will be happy with their meal."
According to CNN, Americans serve roughly 46 million turkeys on Thanksgiving, with 88 percent of all Americans feasting on the bird. There are more than 248 million turkeys raised each year in the U.S. Butterball receives the brunt of the cooking questions, with 12,000 callers expected on the big day.
The company assures customers and retailers; however, this is only for their fresh turkeys over 16 pounds and does not impact their supply of frozen or lower-weight fresh Butterballs. The shortage is limited to Butterball and does not affect any other turkey brands.
Butterball expects production of its large turkeys to be back to normal by the Christmas holiday.
