The Fallacy Behind Free-Range Turkey Farming

As an increasing number of consumers seek a humane and healthy substitute for industrial-raised turkey products, poultry producers are now offering free-range turkey selections. The poultry industry estimates that nearly two percent of American homes eat free-range turkeys during the holiday season.

From both animal welfare and human health standpoints, however, free-range turkey is not a viable choice for consumers seeking guilt-free meals. "Consumers can really be fooled," Mary Pitman, owner of Mary's Free-Range Turkeys, explains. "Some farms can qualify for free range, but they raise [turkeys] in the same conditions as industrial farms."

THE FREE-RANGE FALLACY

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the single condition for the term 'free-range' is that birds have access to the outdoors. All other facets of a free-range turkey's life can be indistinguishable from the living conditions of a conventional-raised bird.

University of California-Davis poultry specialist, Ralph Ernst reports: "Most free-range birds are still fenced in corrals, though people like to imagine the birds are out roaming the range. They're not out exercising. These birds are raised much like the regular turkeys."

Thousands of free-range turkeys are raised in a single warehouse-like structure (known as a grow-out shed), forced to stand on accumulated fecal waste and breathe in ammonia fumes.

To prevent free-roaming birds from injuring each other in the grow-out quarters, a portion of their beaks and toes are severed without the aid of anesthesia. Ian J.H. Duncan, a professor of Poultry Ethology at the University of Guelph in Canada, says "the idea of beak trimming being a short-lived discomfort for the bird may be far from accurate. The short and long-term changes in behavior, particularly the substantial decrease in activities involving the beak and the increase in inactivity particularly in the first week after the operation, suggests that the birds are suffering severe pain."

Like their conventionally-raised cousins, free-range turkeys are typically bred to grow at an unnaturally rapid rate, resulting in permanent health problems for birds.

Wild turkeys can live for nearly twenty years. However, their domesticated counterparts do not usually survive longer than two years.

Free-range turkeys are slaughtered between 14 and 25 weeks of age. Reaching 'slaughter-age', turkeys are transported via multi-tiered, flat-bed trucks in overcrowded wire cages, enduring all types of weather conditions. Arriving at the slaughterhouse, the fully-conscious birds are hung by their legs and their throats are slashed. The Humane Slaughter Act and Animal Welfare Act exempt turkeys from legal protection.

"People pay extra because it makes them feel better about the fate of the turkey," Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation, explains.

TAINTED TURKEYS

Recently, high rates of Salmonella bacteria contamination have been discovered at free-range turkey processing plants. For example, one free-range plant achieved a contamination rate of 30.4 percent.

Currently, the federal government has the authority to close chicken processing plants that surpass salmonella restrictions continually. "Because USDA has not set similar standards for turkey processors, even plants that ship a high percentage of contaminated turkeys dont have to worry about government enforcement action," says Caroline Smith DeWaal, the food safety director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

DeWaal adds: "The government should set and enforce standards to reduce the amount of contaminated poultry reaching consumers...Raw poultry can still contaminate other foods in the kitchen. Consumers shouldn't have to roll the dice--especially with odds as bad as these."

According to the University of Arkansas Food Safety Consortium, increased stress-levels among turkeys can be a factor in plant contamination. Overstressed birds can be susceptible to E. coli and listeria. Campylobacter contaminates turkey meat at a high rate as well. Manure exposure and insect consumption also contribute to increased bacteria levels.

USDA health research indicates that there are insignificant nutritional distinctions between free-range and conventional turkeys. Cholesterol and saturated fat are found in both types of meat.