British shoppers are hoarding frozen turkeys weeks in advance because of fears that a growing supply chain crisis will lead to shortages of the most popular food during the Christmas season.

At Aldi, a discount supermarket chain, about 1500 frozen turkeys are sold every day, four times as many as in the same period last year; sales of Christmas pudding are up 45 per cent.

As the supply chain crisis in the UK extends, shoppers are hoarding these items ahead of time, fearing that their inventory could run out when Christmas comes.

The United States faces a similar problem, and experts say it may be difficult for American consumers to buy turkey on Thanksgiving, especially small turkeys in short supply.

Retailers and restaurants in the US and UK have faced delays and shortages in the past few months as supply chains collapsed due to shortages of workers, including truck drivers.

The British government is taking steps to ease supply chain problems, especially in terms of goods needed for Christmas. In September, the British government announced that emergency visas would be issued to European poultry workers who had been working in the UK before Christmas.

In the US, Shady Brook Farms, one of the largest turkey suppliers, recently wrote a letter to retailers and distributors saying that "things are not good" and that "the turkey industry is still struggling with production problems".

Although consumers are hoarding, Giles Harley, head of Aldi's UK and Ireland operations, said the chain did not expect supply shortages during the holiday shopping season.

"given the current challenges, supply is clearly a concern for the industry, but our team has been planning for this Christmas since the beginning of this year and we are not worried about supply at the moment," he said. "