Moy Park, which supplies major retailers throughout the UK and Ireland with fresh, locally sourced poultry and convenience foods, has developed the turkey range in conjunction with M&S.

“Christmas is a key time of year for the poultry sector and a peak time for turkey production.” explains Tony O’Neill, Moy Park’s business development director.

“We have worked hard to develop new products to suit the needs of the market and will produce a substantial number of turkeys for M&S alone this Christmas season,” said Tony O’Neill.

“Factors such as more choice, food inflation and busy lifestyles are changing how we eat. At Christmas time especially customers are looking for foods that are ready prepared and easy to cook so the range we have produced for M&S gives households a choice of options including pre-prepared stuffed crowns and spiced joints in a range of sizes, as well as the traditional turkey with all the trimmings.”

Mr O’Neill added: “This type of product innovation is helping us grow our business – in the lead up to Christmas we will produce over 1 million turkeys for the UK and Ireland markets. Our acquisition of O’Kane Poultry in 2010 has not only enabled Moy Park to enter the turkey sector but has also increased our poultry farming, processing capacity and milling capability.”

The turkey products Moy Park produces for M&S will go on sale in 21 Republic of Ireland stores and 18 stores in Northern Ireland from mid December and most are available to pre-order.