Fresno, CA - Barbara Williamson doesn't mind shelling out extra bucks --even twice the usual cost-- for a free-range turkey.
“I think it's something you have to taste for yourself,” said Williamson, of Flagstaff, Ariz. “Maybe it has to do with the fact that they're fresh, not frozen. The meat is firmer and more tasty.”
Despite the cost, demand for free range-turkeys is on the rise in the United States. But what is the real difference between the usual frozen birds and the free-roaming variety?
Most commercially grown turkeys don't see the light of day. They're kept in cramped quarters until ready for slaughter. But guidelines for the free-range label are vague. The U.S. Agriculture Department has only one rule: “Producers must demonstrate to the agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside.”
“I guess when people think free-range turkey, they think two acres of land per bird, but that's not the case,” said Ralph Ernst, animal science professor at the University of California, Davis. “They're just letting them out.”
In supermarkets, fresh, free-range turkeys can cost $1.69 per pound or more, while commercially grown frozen turkeys can be found for 60 cents a pound, or just 20 cents with some store discount cards.
Some scientists suggest consumers should save their money.
“Nutritionally and in food safety, there's no difference. It's about preference and taste,” said Gideon Zeidler, a food technologist at the University of California Cooperative Extension in Riverside.
Freshness and size are more important than free-range status, said Zeidler, who says the tastiest birds weigh 12 to 15 pounds.
The type of feed also can make a difference. Many U.S. turkey growers use feed produced from leftover meat and bones from slaughterhouses, which is cheaper than corn and soybeans. That animal byproduct is cooked, ground and dried, and it often becomes stale by the time it's given to turkeys, affecting the taste, Zeidler said.
Some consumers and growers say fresh, free-range birds don't receive hormone injections. But according to USDA guidelines, injecting hormones is illegal for any animals grown for consumption.
Another common argument is that fresh, free-range turkeys have never received antibiotics, and cooping birds up makes them more likely to get sick.
But scientists say only sick birds get antibiotics, and even when they do, farmers are required to keep them drug-free for at least five days before slaughter so that the antibiotics decline to insignificant levels.
Besides, the use of antibiotics in poultry has gone down dramatically in recent years because of better vaccinations, Zeidler said.
The USDA forbids using the term “chemical free” on any label. Also, the term “natural” denotes minimal processing in the slaughterhouse, and has nothing to do with how the birds are grown or fed.
Still, turkey ranchers would be wise to avoid giving their birds drugs and animal byproducts if they want to keep attracting consumers, said Mary Pitman, who with her husband, Rick, grew 10,000 free-range turkeys in Kerman, Calif., for this Thanksgiving season.
Those birds were fed corn and high-protein soybean meal, and none were given antibiotics. “My husband was in shock how healthy these birds have been,” she said. “They didn't get sick at all.”
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