Why You Should Buy an Organic Turkey
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Still haven't picked up your Thanksgiving turkey or turkey breast yet? Consider choosing an organic one. Turkeys that carry the USDA Organic seal are not given antibiotics.
Over 13 million pounds of medically important antibiotics—those used to treat illnesses in people—were used in livestock in 2018 (according to the latest data from the Food and Drug Administration). Producers often administer the drugs to healthy animals to keep them from getting sick on crowded factory farms. But this practice is a major factor in the widespread problem of antibiotic resistance. Resistant bacteria cause infection and illnesses that no longer respond to the drugs meant to destroy them.
While there has been a decline in antibiotic use in raising chickens, the same can’t be said for turkey production. In 2018, 11 percent of the medically important antibiotics used in livestock were used on turkeys, while just 4 percent were used on chickens, according to FDA estimates.
How Antibiotic Use on Farms Affects You
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has made reducing inappropriate antibiotic use in people and animals a top priority because of the effect of antibiotic resistance on human health. And the World Health Organization has also issued guidelines that recommend against the routine use of antibiotics in food animals.
When used in cattle, hogs, and poultry, the drugs can kill off weaker bacteria in the animals’ digestive tracts, leaving a few hardy survivors to multiply. Those bacteria, as well as certain antibiotic residues, are excreted in manure, which is the perfect medium for antibiotic-resistant bacteria to grow.
In turn, those bacteria get on the animals’ hides and skin, and can contaminate the meat we eat when the animals are slaughtered.
And the bacteria continue to reproduce and spread resistance to other bacteria in the animal waste and can get into our environment via airborne dust blowing off farms, and water and soil polluted with contaminated feces.
Drug-resistant bacteria can also spread from farms to humans through farmworkers who handle animals or their waste.
According to the latest estimates from the CDC, antibiotic-resistant infections cause 2.8 million illnesses and 35,000 deaths in the U.S. each year.
The problem doesn’t just lie with the bacteria that cause foodborne illness. Once resistant bacteria are in the environment, they can mingle with other bacteria and share genetic material, which could contribute to additional antibiotic-resistant infections in hospitals and communities.
Consumer Reports’ testing has found that no-antibiotic and organic meats and poultry tend to carry fewer antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
But these meats are not necessarily free of bacteria that can cause illness, so it is still important to take steps to protect yourself from food poisoning, such as keeping raw meat and poultry separate from other foods and cooking any turkey to 165° F.
How to Find a Better Turkey
If you want to avoid a turkey raised with antibiotics, you need to read labels carefully. Here’s what to look for:
USDA Organic. This is one of the best guarantees that a bird didn’t receive antibiotics routinely. (Note that under current rules, poultry that is labeled USDA Organic may have been given antibiotic injections before it hatched and until its second day of life.)
Raised Without Antibiotics, No Antibiotics Administered, or No Antibiotics Ever. A “no antibiotics” or “raised without antibiotics” claim should be reliable, but verification isn’t required. Ideally, this label would be accompanied by a USDA Process Verified seal, which means the agency has performed inspections to verify that the producer is doing what it says it is.
It’s true that organic turkeys can be more expensive than conventionally raised turkeys, which currently average about $1.12 per pound for frozen and $1.33 per pound for fresh, according to the Department of Agriculture.
But around the holidays there are deals to be had on organic turkeys. For example, Whole Foods announced that from Nov. 11 through Nov. 22, organic turkeys will be $2.99 per pound for Amazon Prime members and $3.49 if you aren’t a Prime member. It’s worth noting, too, that the nonorganic turkeys sold at Whole Foods are also raised without antibiotics; the price on those turkeys will be $1.99 (Prime) or $2.49 per pound.
Organic and "no antibiotic" turkeys tend to be smaller, according to the Department of Agriculture, which may fit in nicely with your plans if the pandemic means you're hosting fewer people this year. (One pound of uncooked turkey yields about 3/4 pound of edible meat after roasting.) Buying a smaller bird may make choosing organic or "no antibiotic" more affordable.
You may have better luck finding a smaller bird if you choose a fresh one, which tend to hit stores about 10 days before Thanksgiving, according to the USDA. A turkey breast may be an option, too. Although the price per pound is higher, it also can be a money saver if no one in your crowd is a dark-meat eater.
Labels to Ignore
There are three labels to be leery of: “antibiotic free,” “no antibiotic residues,” and “no growth-promoting antibiotics.”
Both “antibiotic free” and “no antibiotic residues” are not claims that are approved by the USDA, so you shouldn’t see them on turkey labels. (And animals that were given antibiotics must go through a federal government mandated withdrawal period, so there shouldn’t be any antibiotic residues anyway.) If you do see them, however, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the birds were not given antibiotics.
Though technically true, “no growth-promoting antibiotics” has little practical meaning. Under guidelines from the Food and Drug Administration, antibiotics used in food animals are no longer labeled for use for production purposes (i.e., animal growth). This means that any producer using antibiotics solely for growth promotion would be in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
But birds carrying this claim may still have been given antibiotics for disease prevention. And if the drugs continue to be widely used to prevent disease, we’ll still be likely to have a problem with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
And don’t be taken in by the claims “all natural” and “raised without hormones or steroids.” Neither has anything to do with whether the animals received antibiotics. On meat and poultry, “natural” just means minimally processed without any artificial ingredients. It does not mean organic or no antibiotics. And hormones and steroids are prohibited in turkey production, so a turkey that carries the claim is not necessarily a better choice than one without it.
For more on understanding what food labels mean and don’t, go to Consumer Reports’ Guide to Food-Label Seals & Claims.
Best Ranges From Consumer Reports' Tests
You can find more information on shopping for a range in our range buying guide. CR members can also browse our comprehensive range ratings of more than 150 models.
Which Meat Labels Can You Trust?
If you want to buy meat that's from healthy animals raised without antibiotics, "Consumer 101" TV show host Jack Rico explains which labels to look for when food shopping.
