The cruellest foods we eat #4: Factory farmed turkey

Next in our `cruellest foods' list is. factory farmed turkey. There may be a case for all intensively-farmed meat, but turkeys can be particularly ill-treated.

Factory farmed turkeys

What are they?

Roasted whole at Christmas, turkeys (when alive) are notably smart and have a keen awareness of their surroundings. Factory farmed turkeys are intensively reared in crowded conditions, usually inside.

How are they prepared?

Because of their Thanksgiving traditions, America produces the largest numbers of factory farmed turkeys in the world. In these farms, turkeys spend five to six months in dark sheds with no more than 3.5 square feet of space per bird. To keep the squashed birds from pecking each other, workers will sometimes cut off portions of the birds’ toes and upper beaks with hot blades.

These turkeys are far bigger than nature intended (57% larger than they were in 1965, according to the U.S Department of Agriculture), so they can’t fly or even reproduce – all turkeys raised for food are conceived by artificial insemination.

The case in Britain is almost as bleak – each bird gets 0.27-0.37m of space, and who can forget that video of two Bernard Matthews staff playing baseball with live turkeys at a farm in Norfolk? The offenders claimed that animal cruelty was institutionalised at the farm they worked in.

What does it taste like?

If cooked properly, turkey meat is white, moist, and relatively light. Some think free range turkey tastes better than factory farmed – TV chef Allegra McEvedy told The Guardian that “…ethics aside, when it comes to animals, taste is defined by life: what it ate and how it moved.”

Is it still legal?

YES.

Despite strong protest from many corners, factory-farmed meat is still legal worldwide.

Media exposure to the cruelty behind intensive farming does, however, provoke some change. Since the charges laid at Bernard Matthews door (including the 2007 outbreak of bird flu, a disease which spreads far quicker among birds in cramped conditions), the company have tried to improve their image by launching a new line of free-range turkeys and making a commitment to putting “…100% into the rearing and caring of our birds”.