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INTERVIEW ▶▶▶


British ‘chicken king’ warns of a serious food crisis


Great Britain may be facing its worst food crisis in 75 years. Shortages of chicken and turkey are already noticeable and worse is yet to come. The chicken and wider food industry have been hit by a perfect storm.


BY RUUD PEYS


Boparan: “Empty shelves started with the pan- demic but since May this year the operating environment has deteriorated so profoundly I can see no other outcome than major food shortages in the UK.”


T


hat warning comes from Ranjit Singh Boparan, often nicknamed Britain’s ‘chicken king’ as founder, owner and president of one of the largest chicken and food producers, the 2 Sisters Food Group. His company


processes over 10 million birds a week in the UK, the Nether- lands and Poland, and supplies a third of all the poultry prod- ucts eaten in the UK every day. 2SFG also produces ready- meals, often with chicken, as well as beef products. But that business is facing serious problems now, Boparan says. The wealthy businessman from Birmingham doesn’t seek the limelight and hardly appears in the media. Earlier this sum- mer however, he didn’t mince his words with a warning that Britain is on the verge of its most serious food crisis since World War II. “We are finding ourselves confronted by unique, era-defining challenges for the food sector. The supply of


chicken and turkey is under threat. Things have to change or we’ll see the worst food shortages in 75 years.”


Pingdemic One of the issues is temporary, it is hoped. This summer the UK was hit for weeks by what was known as the ‘pingdemic’. Millions of workers had to quarantine at home after they had received a ping from a coronavirus app telling them they had been in the vicinity of an infected person. Food companies, supermarkets and transport companies suddenly saw a large part of their workforce not turning up for work, leading to empty shelves in most supermarkets. But, says Ranjit Boparan, the pingdemic isn’t the problem affecting us – it’s masking other fundamental issues. “I have seen lots of change over the years – but nothing compares to now. The use of the term ‘perfect storm’ has become something of a cli- ché but never has that been truer than it is today. No one could possibly have predicted that this toxic cocktail of fac- tors would come together at this time. It started with the pandemic, but since May this year the operating environment has deteriorated so profoundly that I can see no other out- come than major food shortages in the UK. Our retail part- ners and the wider supply chain have worked together closer than ever before to ensure we retain food supply and this is of huge credit to everyone. But we are at a crisis point.”


Brexit


One of the major causes is Brexit. Since the UK left the Euro- pean Union on 1st January of this year, living and working in the UK has become so much more complicated for citi- zens from EU countries that many have left. Other workers who returned to their home country because of the pan- demic restrictions don’t seem to be coming back. This has led to serious labour shortages in the chicken industry, farming and food processing, in general, as well as in trans- port. Many food companies relied heavily on EU workers who, in some cases, made up over 70% of their total work- force. 2 Sisters Food Group, for example, has a 15% labour shortage this year in its 16,000 workforce. The British Poultry Council has warned that it is far from


6 ▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 8, 2021


ANP/TOM WILKINSON


PHOTO: ANP


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