Turkey should be clearly labeled for Thanksgiving

Many Americans will be looking for a turkey to roast come Thanksgiving, and that means manufacturers should make it easy for shoppers to find all of the necessary information on product labels. There are many different terms that could appear on poultry and your company should take time to choose the right one and display it prominently.

Depending on how the turkey is packaged, producers have different ways of positioning the food label so it is easy to read. Once that’s decided, businesses should think about the meanings of different phrases commonly seen on meat products.

For example, in a recent piece for the Star Tribune, Toms Meersman referenced various USDA terms and what they mean in the context of a turkey. “Fresh” isn’t just an empty promise: To the USDA, it means that a turkey “has never been chilled below 26 degrees F.” Conversely, a frozen turkey has to have been cooled to at least zero degrees, and any “organic” bird must have been raised with 100 percent organic feed and never given antibiotics or hormones.

Another possible label is the “humanely raised” tag. The Butterball company has used this label, and it has been attacked by PETA for being inaccurate, despite the fact that Butterball’s program is reportedly approved by the American Humane Association.

Whether it’s for animal rights purposes or in reference to the quality of the meat, the label software that your business creates can help design turkey labels that are accurate and fall within official definitions. A full turkey can be an awkward item to package, which is all the more reason that sufficient consumer-facing information needs to be included.