If the turkey you serve at Thanksgiving is smaller than usual this year, blame the pandemic.
Some grocery stores are ordering smaller birds as they anticipate more intimate family meals, multiple news outlets reported this week.
The prediction comes as health officials recommend people reduce the size of holiday gatherings to help stop the risk of spreading COVID-19, McClatchy News reported.
Though Thanksgiving is usually a time to reconnect with friends and relatives, “a small dinner with only people who live in your household” is among the safest ways to celebrate this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And people may heed that advice.
One Washington nurse said she hopes to video chat with her parents who battled cancer, while another resident’s family plans to meet for dinner in a garage that allows for social distancing, the Associated Press reported.
In their consumer research, poultry companies Butterball and Hormel Foods found people may have small Thanksgiving gatherings, many with turkey on the table, according to The New York Times.
In anticipation of scaled-back feasts, some supermarkets have requested smaller birds, while others plan to offer more turkey breasts, CNN Business reported.
That leaves some poultry producers scrambling in an industry that has already been hit hard by coronavirus-related shutdowns.
Since diet, genetics and other factors often predetermine turkey growth, some farmers have slaughtered the birds early this year to keep them from getting any larger, news outlets reported.
“It’s not an industry in which you can quickly pivot,” Minnesota turkey grower John Peterson said, according to the Times. “For us to have any meaningful impact on changing anything for Thanksgiving, those decisions had to be made in March or April.”
While there’s expected to be demand for smaller birds, some regular-sized turkeys could still make their way to store shelves, according to CNN Business.
If you want to make sure you get one that suits your family meal, there may be hope.
“Find the right size and then throw it into the deepest part of your freezer,” Sophie Mellet-Grinnell, a poultry specialist for Baldor Specialty Foods, told Fox News. “Those shoppers who go looking for a small bird in late November or December are going to find far fewer pickings and much higher prices.”
