A Lincolnshire turkey farm that breeds birds supplied into Harrods has been hit with allegations of poor biosecurity and animal welfare abuse.

Covert footage caught at Hockenhull Turkeys’ Spilsby site appears to show staff urinating in turkey pens, “sham” biosecurity, and “abusive and unlawful handling of heavy birds during depopulation”, according to Green Britain Foundation.

The campaign group, which obtained the footage over several days in the summer, has called on Harrods to suspend its supply and the likes of the APHA, local authorities, and Red Tractor to investigate.

Hockenhull Turkeys is owned by Aviagen, a global market leader in poultry breeding, and supplies poults to farms.

At the time of writing, a customer ordering online from Harrods would need to pay between £130 and £170 for a Free Range Bronze Turkey, and £120 for a Bacon Butter Roasted Stuffed Turkey Crown.

“Harrods sells itself as a high-end top-quality retailer”, said Dale Vince, Green Britain Foundation’s director. “The truth is Harrods’ turkeys come from factory farms where animals are treated with routine cruelty and disregard.”

Approached for comment, the department store said it has no direct relationship with Hockenhull Turkeys, nor with Aviagen.

“Hockenhull is one of a number of breeds of turkey that we stock, and we source our Hockenhull birds from a farm in Buckinghamshire,” a spokesperson for the luxury retailer said. “This supplier, which sources a number of traditional breeds, adheres to strict Traditional Farmfresh Turkey Association standards, and is now thoroughly and urgently investigating any evidence of a breach in standards from the supplier of Hockenhull poults.”

Red Tractor said it had suspended Hockenhull Turkeys from its certification scheme, pending an independent investigation, and an inspector visited the Spilsby site on Tuesday.

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“To be Red Tractor certified, all assured producers must uphold our standards for animal welfare and food safety,” a spokesperson said. “We take breaches of these standards extremely seriously and will always act on credible evidence of non-compliance.”

Hockenhull Turkeys said it was appalled by the footage and asserted it did not represent the standards of animal husbandry and biosecurity it expected.

“Our management team has immediately commenced a review and we will ensure the lessons from this are learned,” a spokesperson said. “We have implemented a full investigation and the members of staff seen in the footage have been suspended from the business until the review is completed.”

The company continued to say most of its staff cared for the animals in their charge and that the video did not represent a “typical day at Hockenhull”.

It added that the actions shown on the video “do not comply with the policies and standards we set”.

“We are committed to resolving the problems seen in this video and thank those involved for bringing the issues to our attention,” the spokesperson continued. 

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