Butterball Mystery: Fresh Turkeys Not Gaining Weight for Thanksgiving

[edward]

Don't wait until the last minute to buy a big Butterball fresh turkey. For some unknown reason the fresh turkeys failed to gain weight.

CEO Rod Brenneman says it's the first time it has happened and that the company is investigating what went wrong. Butterball announced last week that it will have a limited supply of large, fresh turkeys that are 16 pounds or heavier for the holidays.

"It's a really good question. We don't have an answer yet," Brenneman said when asked about the cause. But he noted that turkeys are "biological creatures" subject to a variety of factors.

"For whatever reason, they just didn't gain quite as well this year," he said.

"I don't buy the For whatever reason" bit. It has to be a lot more serious than that.http://www.nbcnews.com/business/thanksgiving-mystery-why-are-turkeys-not-getting-fat-2D11622532

 

[phion]

Having worked in a deli kitchen, I can safely say Butterball is an average selling turkey and quite delicious. There was a recent nation wide recall due to a listeria monocytogenes concern that affected mostly peripheral product that were served, it may actually still be in affect.

 

[edward]

Having worked in a deli kitchen, I can safely say Butterball is an average selling turkey and quite delicious. There was a recent nation wide recall due to a listeria monocytogenes concern that affected mostly peripheral product that were served, it may actually still be in affect.

Do you have a source for that recall information?

The only thing I can find is a 2010 recall due to listeria monocytogenes that did not involve Butterball. As matter of fact it involved processed turkey parts and the listeria is contacted in the processing of the parts.

http://www.examiner.com/article/tur...-recalled-for-possible-listeria-contamination

Regardless it would have nothing to do with turkeys failing to gain weight.

 

[phion]

Here are somethings I found:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/23/health/meat-recall/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/listeria-risk-sparks-turkey-recall-complete-list-for-safe-thanksgiving/

While one consequence of some symptoms of listeriosis are rapid weightloss, I can only suspect that the possible contaminant translated into the runt sized turkeys.

 

[phion]

Also, it may be the preferential bias of the consumer your seeing, as the product diminishes in size as a direct correlation to the buyers want of a large turkey the closer we get to Thanksgiving, that is, the fewer large turkeys there are since the distributor can't keep up with the demand. The bias "out weighs" the rate at which the shelves can be stocked.

 

[phion]

Combined with the failing harvest rate due to the recall, along side with the instantaneous increase in demand of large, healthy turkey, the "mystery" might result in many disappointed families staring at unimpressive, albeit uncontaminated, Thanksgiving table center pieces.

 

[AlephZero]

Maybe they hired some management consultant who said they were spending too much on feed, so they cut back to make more profits

If you wanted to start industrial scale farming of (relatively) small animals, turkeys are about the dumbest choice you could make. They are way too emotionally unstable. You would have a much easier time if you persuaded your market to eat rabbits instead.

And it's not as if farmed turkeys actually taste of anything, except stuffing and seasoning.

 

[phion]

They are way too emotionally unstable.

 

[edward]

Maybe they hired some management consultant who said they were spending too much on feed, so they cut back to make more profits

If you wanted to start industrial scale farming of (relatively) small animals, turkeys are about the dumbest choice you could make. They are way too emotionally unstable. You would have a much easier time if you persuaded your market to eat rabbits instead.

And it's not as if farmed turkeys actually taste of anything, except stuffing and seasoning.

Chickens are nervous and emotionally unstable too. The answer for that was to give them Prozac to calm them down and caffeine to keep them awake and eating.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/opinion/kristof-arsenic-in-our-chicken.html?_r=0

 

[edward]

Here are somethings I found:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/23/health/meat-recall/

Again your are referring to processed foods. From your link:

"Recalled products include several kinds of chicken salad, ham salad, barbecue beans with beef, and potato salad with bacon. They bear the establishment number EST. 13520 or P-13520 inside the USDA mark of inspection."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/listeria-risk-sparks-turkey-recall-complete-list-for-safe-thanksgiving/

While one consequence of some symptoms of listeriosis are rapid weightloss, I can only suspect that the possible contaminant translated into the runt sized turkeys.

The second link is from 2010. That too was processed turkey.

The case for disease would be highly unlikely with the 2013 Butterball turkey weight gain problem. Most of the turkeys are grown on contract farms. Butterball does provide the feed even for contract farms, and that would mean all turkeys Butterball turkeys would have the disease.

http://farmprogress.com/story-butterball-llc-named-ncs-exporter-year-9-94884

The shortage should be great news for small farmers especially those who grow heritage turkeys.

http://www.brownbagonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Heritage-turkey5.jpg

 

[AlephZero]

The shortage should be great news for small farmers especially those who grow heritage turkeys.

It would have been better news if they had known about it in time to take some action. By now, what they have to sell is what they already have.

Chickens can get aggressive through overcrowding but they are nothing compared with turkeys. A shed full of turkeys can go into spontaneous "stampede and self destruct" mode for no reason at all. A shed full of half grown turkeys with assorted broken legs, wings, or even necks doesn't have much commercial value.

Actually you could argue against the concept that they are "biological creatures" - for example they have been selectively bred to the point where they can only reproduce using AI. Balancing one sphere on top of another is an unstable situation

 

[phion]

Oh, sorry. Here are more accurate and relevant articles that I took all of .62 seconds of a Google search looking into.

http://hazelwood.patch.com/groups/e...pounds-of-meat-recalled-some-sold-in-missouri

http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set...es/2013/0413/Meat-recall-expands-to-13-states

And if you wish to stay current:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal...blic-health-alerts/current-recalls-and-alerts

 

[phion]

I could see this turning into an animal rights thread if we're not careful.

 

[edward]

I could see this turning into an animal rights thread if we're not careful.

Ha not by me I grew up eating rabbit both grown in a cage and shot in a field.

 

[edward]

Oh, sorry. Here are more accurate and relevant articles that I took all of .62 seconds of a Google search looking into.

http://hazelwood.patch.com/groups/e...pounds-of-meat-recalled-some-sold-in-missouri

The only mention of turkey in the first link is "Turkey Breast Misbranding".

http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set...es/2013/0413/Meat-recall-expands-to-13-states

Your link above is again about processed foods. From the link.

The Manda Packing Company recall announced this past week now includes 468,000 pounds of roast beef, ham, turkey breast, tasso pork, ham shanks, hog headcheese, corned beef, and pastrami.

And if you wish to stay current:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal...blic-health-alerts/current-recalls-and-alerts

Same information as links number one and two as far as turkey is concerned.

QUIT JERKING ME AROUND WE DON'T DO THAT HERE.

Read your links before you post them. They were only relevant to processed meats. Cut paste and quote from your links.

The turkeys grown as fresh turkeys to be sold for the holidays have nothing to do with recalls of processed meats. That would be the same turkeys that Butterball claims for some unknown reason did not gain weight enough for market.

I'll tell you what go out and buy a Butterball 15 pound turkey that was grown for sale as fresh and have a great meal. I am going to cook a fresh goose this year.

 

[phion]

I literally spent the last two months cutting fresh meats and cheese at the local supermarket deli. Again, sorry for the bunk links.

 

[BobG]

Don't wait until the last minute to buy a big Butterball fresh turkey. For some unknown reason the fresh turkeys failed to gain weight.






"I don't buy the For whatever reason" bit. It has to be a lot more serious than that.


http://www.nbcnews.com/business/thanksgiving-mystery-why-are-turkeys-not-getting-fat-2D11622532

I think the turkeys are starting to wise up to this Thanksgiving feast thing.

ODE TO A TURKEY

When I was a young turkey, new to the coop,
My big brother Mike took me out on the stoop,
Then he sat me down, and he spoke real slow,
And he told me there was something that I had to know;
His look and his tone I will always remember,
When he told me of the horrors of... Black November;

"Come about August, now listen to me,
Each day you'll get six meals instead of just three,
"And soon you'll be thick, where once you were thin,
And you'll grow a big rubbery thing under your chin;
"And then one morning, when you're warm in your bed,
In'll burst the farmer's wife, and hack off your head;
"Then she'll pluck out all your feathers so you're bald 'n pink,
And scoop out all your insides and leave you lyin' in the sink;

Well, the rest of his words were too grim to repeat,
I sat on the stoop like a winged piece of meat,
And decided on the spot that to avoid being cooked,
I'd have to lay low and remain overlooked;
I began a new diet of nuts and granola,
High-roughage salads, juice and diet cola;
And as they ate pastries, chocolates and grapes,
I stayed in my room doing Jane Fonda tapes;
I maintained my weight of two pounds and a half,
And tried not to notice when the bigger birds laughed;
But 'twas I who was laughing, under my breath,
As they chomped and they chewed, ever closer to death;
And sure enough when Black November rolled around,
I was the last turkey left in the entire compound;

So now I'm a pet in the farmer's wife's lap;
I haven't a worry, so I eat and I nap;
She held me today, while sewing and humming,
And smiled at me and said
"Christmas is coming"