Thanksgiving is approaching and Executive Catering Chef at NC State Mack Bell expressed some concerns about an eventual shortage in turkeys because of avian flu breakout in the Midwest.
However, the dining halls secured their birds early and should have no problem providing turkey dishes at the annual Thanksgiving Dinner Nov. 12. University Dining has anticipated a possible unavailability of products through management of its supply chain.
“We are in anticipation in case of potential shortages,” said Randy Lait, senior director of Hospitality Services.
In order to have Thanksgiving turkeys, University Dining has been working closely with its distributors.
“We have been working with our food distributor and our group purchasing organization to minimize the impact to our campus through supply chain management agreements and stockpiling certain products when supplies were more plentiful,” Lait said.
NC State University deals with a local distributor, US Foodservice, which buys its turkeys fresh from Butterball, the largest vertically integrated American turkey producers based in Mount Olive, North Carolina.
Since NC State is represented—as a customer—by a group purchasing organization, or a GPO, the university can get better prices through large food contracts.
“A GPO acts as a consolidator of purchasing power, by taking the volume of large customers and rolling that into an even larger volume of product purchasing, they are able to negotiate contracts for large volumes of foods between the manufacturer and the customer with the products delivered by the distributor,” Lait said.
As the GPO makes a very significant customer, manufacturers like Butterball give priority to these large contractors.
“This means that NC State would tend to get first chance at available product, so that if supplies are short we are less likely to be the ones left without products,” Lait said.
So far, North Carolina is out of influenza’s range, since the virus has not entered the state. For this reason, the current focus is on prevention and education for farmers.
“We are in a wait mode, planning or preparing but we haven’t got it,” said Jennifer Kendrick, communications officer within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
As far as the turkey supply goes, concerns slightly diverge over the supply of fresh and frozen turkeys. Frozen turkeys are as plentiful nationally as they have been in previous years because the poultry industry has been preparing for Thanksgiving for months.
“The Thanksgiving turkey supply for the frozen turkey, at least—they don’t expect any shortages,” Kendrick said. “They’ve been preparing for Thanksgiving for many, many months and turkeys are already in storage ready to be distributed.”
Fresh turkeys are more of a concern because of the lingering risks that avian flu could enter the state.
“National Turkey Federation doesn’t expect a shortage but if we get another outbreak between now and then it could change something for the fresh turkeys,” Kendrick said.
North Carolina is the second-largest turkey-producing state in volume in the United States, behind Minnesota, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“If you want to get a fresh turkey you might have little harder time,” Kendrick said.
Lait predicted a return to normal within the coming months because he believes the nation’s food producers and supply chain is addressing this avian flu situation effectively.
