Shopping guide for turkey
Around 16 million turkeys are reared in the UK for meat each year, and around 10 million of those are eaten at Christmas time.
The most common farmed turkey breed in the UK is white-feathered, though bronze and black breeds are sometimes farmed too, particularly as free range. The average weight of a wild male turkey is around 7.5 kilogrammes. However, through selective breeding for faster growth rates, a standard male domesticated white turkey can reach as much as 25 kilogrammes in 20 weeks (approximately the weight of a small Labrador) and put on weight at an average of more than 1 kilogramme per week!
Over 1.3 million turkeys a year are reared on farms inspected by Freedom Food to strict RSPCA welfare standards. By choosing higher welfare products, such as those labelled Freedom Food, you are directly helping to improve the lives of these farm animals.
If more consumers insist on higher welfare products, more supermarkets will stock them, more farmers will be encouraged to improve their farming practices, and more farm animals will benefit.
What to look for when buying Turkey
British turkeys are generally kept in either free range, organic or indoor systems, but the standards of welfare can vary quite radically.
However, turkey meat carrying the Freedom Food logo can provide you with the assurance that it has come from farms inspected to the RSPCA’s strict and detailed welfare standards, which cover every aspect of the birds’ lives, including hatching, housing, transport and humane slaughter/killing. The Freedom Food mark can be found on all sorts of turkey products, including those labelled free range and organic, so be sure to check the label.
Standard Indoor
If a turkey product’s packaging does not make it clear which farming system the turkey was reared in, it’s likely the bird was reared in a standard indoor production system. It’s not mandatory to provide natural light in this type of system, in fact the turkey may be provided with only a low level of artificial light which affects their activity levels and can contribute to leg and eye problems. The birds tend to live in cramped conditions – especially when they are older and bigger - and are provided with little, if any, environmental enrichment. Combine these factors with a fast growing breed and you significantly increase the risk of health issues and poor welfare.
Some turkey products from indoor reared birds may state that they are ‘higher welfare’, but offer no independent assurance - unlike those carrying the Freedom Food logo. These turkeys typically have more space, light and enrichment than required by the minimum industry standard, but are unlikely to meet the full RSPCA welfare standards for these three areas or the many others that cover the entire life of the birds in detail.
Freedom Food Turkey
Freedom Food approved farms must provide turkeys with enough space, different types of enrichment and, from 2012, natural light, as specified within the RSPCA’s strict welfare standards. There are over 650 RSPCA turkey welfare standards that all Freedom Food members are inspected to, covering the whole of the turkeys’ life from the hatchery, to their time on the farm, how they are handled and slaughter/killing.