A festive air fills Oxford's Covered Market - satsumas are ranged at the grocer's and row upon row of turkeys hang in butchers' windows, writes SARAH BROWN. Michael Feller stands outside his shop, Feller & Son & Daughter, with his arms folded and wearing a white overall and straw boater.

Behind him hang a number of turkeys - heads, feet and giblets intact - maturing in time for Christmas.

As a game bird, turkeys are hung to improve the flavour and it's a common sight during the festive period. But this year could be the last time shoppers can enjoy this traditional scene.

For food safety minister Jeff Rooker thinks whole turkeys such as Mr Feller's could be unhygienic. He wants them all to be disembowelled in slaughterhouses, as they are in the rest of the European Union.

Consequently, Mr Feller is not feeling much Christmas goodwill towards Mr Rooker.

"I don't think he knows what he is talking about. We've been doing this for 40 years and we've never had a problem. "Turkeys are a game bird. You can't just slaughter them, take the guts out and that's it."

He said the Government was kowtowing to supermarkets, which sell turkeys for five times less than traditional butchers, and that the effect of any legislation would be "devastating".

"We're a traditional family butcher's. We have thousands of turkeys hanging up here at Christmas. We don't want to do things the same way as the supermarkets.

"People like to see the turkeys hanging up. If I had a pound for everybody that took photos at Christmas, I'd be a rich man."

And he said taking the innards out of turkeys was actually less hygienic because it caused them to go off more quickly as air gets inside them.

"This decision is political and it's another nail in our coffin," he added.

Poultry farmer Bill Homewood, of Radley, Abingdon, produces 3,500 turkeys and 1,500 geese a year. He sells 20 per cent of the birds through his own farm shop and the rest to Oxfordshire butchers.

The farm has been producing birds for commercial sale for 41 years. He denied that leaving turkeys intact was unhygienic and added that his premises were inspected at least three times a year by environmental health officers. He said: "We produce hand- plucked birds and hang them for a minimum of seven to ten days, and that's where you get the added texture. Maturing the birds gives them a far superior flavour.

"The implications of this legislation may be that birds won't be able to be hung and matured. You would lose the enhanced flavour and that's essential to our product."

He said gutting all the birds at the farm, instead of leaving them to hang, would take up to £30,000 investment and would mean automating the production line.

He added: "The danger with this is that you take away the ability to produce traditionally reared poultry."

A TASTE OF THE NEW WORLD

The tradition of eating turkey at Christmas goes back to the days when the main dish of the day was meant to be something special.

Originally, the most popular Christmas delicacies were goose and cockerel or, for the rich, peacock and swan. The peacock was often skinned before roasting but was served re-clothed in its feathers. Sometimes, the beak was held open with a piece of bread which had been soaked in alcohol. This was set alight just before serving.The turkey was first introduced to Europe by army officers on a return journey from the New World. In England, they became known as turkeys because merchants from the Levant, or Turkey, first brought them here.

A fresh whole turkey bought from a butcher or farmer costs £28 to £30 for a five-kilo bird, which should be enough to feed six people.

But supermarkets sell five-kilo frozen turkeys for around £7. They will not have fresh ones until around a fortnight before Christmas.

The Guinness Book of Records states that the greatest dressed weight recorded for a turkey is 39.09 kg, or 86Ibs, at the last heaviest turkey competition in London in 1989.

Previous news story

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.