Canadians gearing up to host a Super Bowl party can breathe a sigh of relief: there’s no chicken wing shortage ahead of Sunday’s big game.
In fact, compared to this time last year, the Chicken Farmers of Canada are reporting a slight chicken surplus heading into February.
“Everyone can relax. All of our statistics here suggests that there’s no shortage,” said spokesperson Lisa Bishop-Spencer.
She told CTV News Channel on Saturday that chicken production in the first quarter of 2013 is projected to increase.
She said the surplus is partly due to the NHL lockout that kept hockey fans out of pubs, which is good news considering that Canadians are expected to enjoy roughly 100 million wings on Super Bowl Sunday.
“Because we were selling fewer wings through early January, we actually have plenty,” Bishop-Spencer said.
Rumours of a wing shortage south of the border began swirling two weeks ago after the U.S. National Chicken Council issued a report warning that rising feed prices had curtailed production stateside. The report noted that that chicken wing consumption during Super Bowl weekend was projected to fall to 1.23 billion wings, down one per cent from last year.
The study sparked fears of skyrocketing wing prices just around corner from the NFL’s biggest game.
The American chicken council later clarified that a wing shortage is not expected, although prices for the deep-fried delicacies may be on the rise.
Bishop-Spencer said in Canada chicken farmers produce as much as possible for the domestic market.
“We have to remember that there are only two wings per bird,” she said, adding that Canada satisfies its wing demand with imports from the U.S. and Brazil.
