11-23-2014
If you’re getting ready to gobble up turkey this Thanksgiving, you may want to think about what it stands for.
The idea of eating a whole ball of butter doesn’t seem unappealing to many Americans, and perhaps that’s how the entire Butterball turkey concept became so popular. Meat covered in more fat? Sign us up, America said!
While the Pilgrims and Native Americans were feasting on a wholly different species of fowl, the wild turkeys of the 17th Century would not even recognize Butterball LLC’s birds, Americans circa the mid 20th century became infatuated with our nation’s biggest equalizer: pre-packaged foods. Perhaps a massacre could have been avoided if the crowd at Plymouth Rock had just heated up some Lean Cuisines?
Butterball began in 1940 in Wyoming, Ohio, trademarked by a woman named Ada Walker, though the origin of the name remains unclear. 1 A decade later, in 1951, Leo Peters bought the name and founded Butterball Farms in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which now only sells, well, balls of butter 2. American food processing company Swift & Co. leased the name in 1954, and used it to start selling frozen turkeys. In the 1990s, Swift was sold to Nebraska-based food conglomerate ConAgra, which then sold the brand to Carolina Turkeys in 2006. In 2010, Seaboard Corporation acquired 49% of Butterball LLC for $250 million.
So Butterball is not in fact a preparation of chicken or a specific heritage breed, but rather, a business investment, as so much of American cuisine is. In face, there is no actual butter in or on a butterball turkey. The fresh and turkeys are injected with a basting solution made of salt water and “common household spices” one brand representative told me. The secret basting formula is not shared outside of Butterball.
According to animal-rights activist group Mercy for Animals, Butterball slaughters 20 percent of the 252 million turkeys killed each year in the United States. Do we really want a corporation controlling so much of our poultry?
When it comes to Butterball, animal rights activists have gone cold turkey on consuming the brand.
According to Butterball’s website, they’re “dedicated to the humane treatment of our turkeys.” The birds are all-natural, a rather meaningless and non-FDA accredited statement, gluten-free (as all animal protein naturally should be), and raised without hormones on American farms.
But a video released in July 2014 proved that the Butterball turkeys aren’t as happy-go-lucky as the multimillion-dollar company claims the birds to be. The video, shared by Butterball Abuse (http://www.butterballabuse.com), an organization dedicated to ending Butterballs alleged “torture of turkeys” shared a disturbing video of baby birds being ground alive in macerating machines, turkeys having their toes and beaks removed without painkillers and workers kicking, stomping on, throwing and dragging turkeys.
Since 1981, Butterball has operated a Turkey Talk-line every November and December, allowing customers to call Butterball specialists directly to ask any preparation tips, troubleshoot their turkey cooking or just ask questions about the product. In the twenty-first century, Butterball has moved into a digital realm, allowing customers to tweet, Facebook and digitally chat with specialists.
On the Thursday before Thanksgiving, I spoke with a woman we’ll call Sandra, who patiently assisted with all of my Butterball related questions, as asinine as they may have been. When I asked her about the alleged abuse, there was a long awkward pause, but she assured me that “As far as the animals being mistreated, we have a quality care that keeps close eyes on our turkeys so that will never happen again.” She went on to explain that this quality care team is not certified in any way to watch for animal abuse but they “make sure the turkeys don’t get hurt” and “there’s no more abuse for sure.” It was unclear, but assumed, that this specialist had never visited a Butterball plant and could not provide me with resources to ensure that the turkeys were treated better than when the video was shot, allegedly years ago.
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