The Real Cost of a Harrods Turkey

Harrods loves to sell itself as the pinnacle of British quality; all marble floors, champagne hampers and “only the best” on offer. But here’s the thing… some of their £130 Christmas turkeys come from a factory farming company where a worker was covertly filmed urinating in a pen, where birds are handled with casual brutality and biosecurity - the thing meant to keep disease out of our food chain - is treated like a joke. 

This footage, obtained by the Green Britain Foundation in July and August this year, exposes what really lies behind suppliers to a luxury label like Harrods and many other companies. This is a farm in Lincolnshire, owned by Aviagen, one of the biggest poultry genetics companies in the world. Their birds are sold in Harrods under the Hockenhull brand. On paper, they’re ‘premium’, ‘ethically raised’, all the marketing buzzwords that justify the price tag. But in reality? Workers are filmed grabbing heavy turkeys by a single leg, stuffing them into crates, flinging them around and walking into and between sheds without even cleaning their boots. In one clip, a man literally urinates inside an occupied turkey pen. That’s not a rogue worker, that’s a system so rotten that this kind of behaviour doesn’t even raise eyebrows. 

 It’s little wonder that Red Tractor, the farm assurance scheme that loves to talk up “trust and traceability” suspended this farm’s certification the moment they saw the footage. The Animal and Plant Health Agency has launched an investigation, as has the local council. Harrods has been forced into an “investigation” and, after we contacted them, they appear to have dropped any reference to Hockenhull from their website. Harrods told us they have "no direct relationship with Hockenhull Turkeys / Aviagen. Hockenhull is one of a number of breeds we stock….. [our] supplier, adheres to strict Traditional Farmfresh Turkey Association (TFTA) standards, is now thoroughly and urgently investigating any evidence of a breach in standards from suppliers of poults they may use.”  

But here’s the question: what did they think was happening before? Did they really believe turkeys bred for mass production in anonymous sheds were living happy lives in hay-strewn barns, being serenaded to Christmas carols? 

This is what factory farming looks like. It’s not a handful of bad apples, it’s an industry built on the idea that animals are commodities, not living beings. When you strip away compassion and treat life as a production line, cruelty and contamination aren’t accidents. They’re inevitable. 

The health implications are just as grim. The Green Britain Foundation footage shows workers moving between sheds without, it seems, disinfecting boots or equipment, the most basic rule in disease control. Foot-dip chemicals were seemingly dumped straight onto the ground, near a watercourse. That’s not only a potential environmental offence, it’s a biosecurity nightmare. When we talk about the risk of bird flu and antibiotic resistance, this is where it begins; in places like this, hidden from view, where welfare corners are cut for profit. 

And let’s not forget, this isn’t some cheap supermarket supplier. This is Harrods. The shop that trades on a reputation for excellence, serving up “luxury” to the world’s elite. There’s nothing luxury about cruelty. There’s nothing premium about neglecting biosecurity. The idea that you can polish up factory farming with a bit of branding and a price tag is the biggest con going. 

Here’s what we’re calling for: Harrods and all retailers must immediately suspend supply from this farm and any linked sites until a full, independent investigation is completed and they must publish the findings. The Animal and Plant Health Agency needs to prosecute where laws have been broken. And Red Tractor should come clean about how this slipped through their net, because it’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last if the system stays as it is. 

People paying £130 for a turkey have a right to know the truth and so do the rest of us. This isn’t about one posh retailer it’s about what’s become normal in Britain’s food system. Behind every cheap chicken or “top-end” bird is the same industrial logic: push animals, push workers, push the limits of legality and hope no one’s watching. 

Well, now we’re watching. And the question isn’t just what Harrods will do about it… it’s what all of us will do, knowing what “factory-farmed luxury” really means. Because no amount of branding or brass plaques can cover up cruelty. Not even in Knightsbridge…:) 

GBF contacted Hockenhull and Aviagen for comment but received no immediate response.