As “Turkey Day” approaches, animal lovers cringe, food safety advocates become vigilante and turkey producers hope you are not reading the news. Specifically, they hope you have not heard about the current turkey salmonella outbreak in 35 states, causing 63 hospitalizations and at least one death.
“The outbreak strain of Salmonella Reading has been identified in various raw turkey products, including ground turkey and turkey patties,” says the CDC. “The outbreak strain has also been found in raw turkey pet food and live turkeys, indicating it might be widespread in the turkey industry.”
Turkey producers also hope you have forgotten that avian flu and its prevention killed so many turkeys in 2015--at least 7.5 million--that turkey giant Jennie-O laid off 233 workers.
They hope you have forgotten that scientists at the Bloomberg School’s Center for a Livable Future and Arizona State’s Biodesign Institute found Tylenol, Benadryl, caffeine, statins and Prozac in feather meal samples that included U.S. turkeys—“a surprisingly broad spectrum of prescription and over-the-counter drugs,” said study co-author Rolf Halden of Arizona State University.
And finally, Butterball hopes you have forgotten that several of its employees were convicted of sickening animal cruelty and that veterinarian Dr. Sarah Mason admits tipping Butterball off about an imminent raid by Hoke County detectives to investigate such humane abuses.
Aware of humane and food safety issues, many buyers are looking to labels to help them in buying their bird. Unfortunately, turkey labels can deceive and even lie. For example “cage-free” and “hormone free' are meaningless since cages and hormones are not used in turkey production anyway. Nor does ”young mean anything since all turkeys are young at the time of slaughter—they live just a matter of weeks or months.
Still, here are some turkey facts that are definitely not on the label.
Ractopamine Is Still In Use
Hormones may not be used in turkey production but ractopamine, the asthma-like growth enhancer to add muscle weight quickly certainly is. Banned in 160 countries and widely viewed as dangerous to animals and humans, ractopamine was approved by the FDA for use in turkey in 2009 under the brand name Topmax. It has never been labeled.
How dangerous is Topmax? This is what its label says. “NOT FOR HUMAN USE. Warning. The active ingredient in Topmax, ractopamine hydrochloride, is a beta-adrenergic agonist. Individuals with cardiovascular disease should exercise special caution to avoid exposure. Not for use in humans. Keep out of the reach of children... When mixing and handling Topmax, use protective clothing, impervious gloves, protective eye wear, and a NIOSH-approved dust mask. Operators should wash thoroughly with soap and water after handling.” It adds an 800 number.
Monkeys fed ractopamine in a Canadian study “developed daily tachycardia”-- rapid heart beat. Rats fed ractopamine developed a constellation of birth defects like cleft palate, protruding tongue, short limbs, missing digits, open eyelids and enlarged hearts.
In its new drug application (no longer on the FDA website) Elanco, ractopamine’s manufacturer, admitted that ractopamine produced “alterations” in turkey meat such as a “mononuclear cell infiltrate and myofiber degeneration,” “an increase in the incidence of cysts,” and differences, some “significant,” in the weight of organs like hearts, kidneys and livers.
