Turkey Facts - Quick Facts

Facts and information about raising and cooking turkey, nutrition, food safety, and more!

Turkey trivia:

• The turkey is a variety of the pheasant. The origin of the name is unclear, but some interesting theories exist. Christopher Columbus thought the New World was connected to India. He called the unusual bird "tuka," which is peacock in the Tamil language of India. Another tale says the merchants who sold turkeys in Spain changed the Tamil "tuka" to the Hebrew "tukki," which then evolved into the English "turkey." Others maintain the American Indian name for the bird was "firkee." Another theory says the present name "turkey" came from the alarm call of the bird, which sounds something like "turc, turc, turc."
• Christopher Columbus and later Hernando Cortez both acquired a taste for turkey in the Western Hemisphere and both took some back to Europe. By 1530, turkeys were being raised domestically in Italy, France and England. When the Pilgrims and other early settlers arrived on American shores, they already were familiar with eating turkey.
• Recent fossil evidence has been dated to show that turkeys have roamed the Americas for about 10 million years.
• Who first domesticated the turkey? There is archeological evidence that turkeys were at least confined, if not domesticated, by the Southwest Indians as long as 2,000 years ago. Some scientists believe the Aztecs were the first to domesticate the turkey.
• History associates turkey with the first Thanksgiving feast celebrated by the Pilgrims in 1621. However, some argue that the settlers of Virginia's Jamestown earlier celebrated America's first Thanksgiving as their extension of England's Harvest Home Festival, a sort of homecoming weekend.
• Ben Franklin suggested the national bird be a turkey and not the bald eagle.
• Turkey feathers are dyed and used in making Indian costumes. It is estimated that turkeys have approximately 3500 feathers at maturity. Turkey down is used in pillows. Wing feathers are used in fletching arrows.
• President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving as a national holiday in 1863 in response to a campaign by a woman magazine editor, Sara Josepha Hale. Ms. Hale also was the author of "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
• Domesticated turkeys cannot fly. Wild turkeys can fly for short distances up to 55 miles per hour and can run 25 miles an hour.
• A tom turkey can produce as many as 1,500 poults during a hen's six-month production cycle.
• Only tom turkeys gobble. The hens make a clicking noise.
• Weight records show that a commercial turkey grower in the United Kingdom, Leacroft Turkeys Limited, raised a turkey weighing 86 pounds, believed to be the world's heaviest turkey.
• In the early West, turkeys were trailed like cattle in "drives" to supply food where needed. One of the earliest turkey drives was over the Sierras from California to Carson City, Nevada. Hungry miners coughed up $5 apiece for the birds.
• Abraham Lincoln's son, Tad, had a pet turkey. When it was suggested that the bird might make a fine holiday dinner, the boy set up such a howl of protest that the president finally issued a "presidential pardon" for Tad's pet.
• Out of this world meal. When US astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin sat down to eat their first meal on the moon in their historic 1969 voyage, their foil food packets contained roasted turkey and all the trimmings.

General turkey facts:

• The smallest turkeys available are called fryer roasters and range from five to nine pounds.
• The largest turkeys available weigh more than 40 pounds.
• In 1970 the average American ate 8.2 pounds of turkey.
• By 1980 that average had jumped to 10.3 pounds.
• Since the early 1990's, U.S. per capita turkey consumption has been about 17-18 pounds.
• Turkeys are fed mainly a balanced diet of corn and soybean meal mixed with a supplement of vitamins and minerals. Fresh water is available at all times.
• On average, it takes 84 pounds of feed to raise a 30 pound tom turkey.
• All commercial turkeys produced today are the white, broad-breasted turkey breed. This breed was first used for commercial turkey production in the late 1950s. By the late 1960s, the majority of the industry used this turkey breed.
• About 300 million turkeys are produced each year. About 45 million (15%, or about 675 million pounds) are consumed at Thanksgiving.
• According to a recent survey by the National Turkey Federation, 91% of Americans eat turkey at Thanksgiving.
• The American Farm Bureau reported that in 2005 the traditional Thanksgiving meal cost $36.78 to serve 10 people. The menu included turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, peas, rolls with butter, cranberries, a relish dish, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and beverages of coffee or milk. Importantly, the real (inflation-adjusted) cost of the meal is unchanged in the past 15 years, and is actually lower than 20 years ago.
• Sandwiches are the most popular form of turkey consumption. American households consume turkey more often as a sandwich than any other way, with sandwiches accounting for 51 percent of all turkey consumption.
• According to a survey commissioned by the National Turkey Federation the top five ways consumers eat leftover turkey are: (1) Sandwich (67%); (2) Soup or stew (20%); (3) Salad (14%); (4) Casserole (12%); and (5) Stir-fry (6%).
• Californians are the biggest turkey eaters in the country. They eat three pounds more turkey than the average American consumer.
• The Israelis eat more than 22 pounds of turkey each year, largely because red-meat production in Israel is limited and it is expensive.
• North Carolina and Minnesota produce the most turkeys.
• In the 1970s, 50 percent of turkeys consumed in the U.S. were eaten during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons. Today less than a third is consumed during that period.
• Some reasons for consumption increase: turkey is high protein, low fat, low cholesterol and the essential nutrient characteristics of turkey make it ideal for weight- and health-conscious Americans.
• Norbest offers a tasty line of turkey products: all white meat roasts, white and dark meat roasts, ground turkey, turkey ham, bologna, pastrami, packaged turkey parts and other deli items.

Facts about Norbest:

• Norbest is an independent turkey marketing cooperative.
• It is the oldest such organization in the world.
• Cooperative members, growers and processors, are located in Utah and Nebraska.
• Norbest plants will process about 130 million pounds of turkey this year.
• The Norbest cooperative exports turkey to the Pacific Rim nations and is a leading supplier of turkeys to Japan, Korea, Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore and Puerto Rico.

NOTE TO NEWS DIRECTORS AND EDITORS:

• Fresh vs. Frozen vs. Refrigerated turkeys:
  
  Changes in USDA regulations have resulted in some changes in how poultry is labeled. Birds held at zero degrees Fahrenheit or lower must be labeled "Frozen". Only those stored at 26 degrees or above may now be labeled "Fresh". Current USDA guidelines do not specify a term for those held between zero and 26 degrees. Norbest has chosen to label these "Refrigerated".
  
  Most Norbest turkeys are sold frozen. These are flash frozen to zero degrees Fahrenheit or below and held there until delivered to the store. For those consumers who prefer a turkey that has not been frozen, Norbest has continued its time-proven methods for providing the highest quality product, with a "Refrigerated" turkey. Refrigerated turkeys are quickly cooled to 24 - 26 degrees immediately after processing, and are rushed to the store to assure consumers the most wholesome and high quality product possible. Norbest research and experience confirm this 24-26 degree temperature range is the safest and most responsible method. Since turkeys held at temperatures over 26 degrees have a significantly higher risk of quality concerns, Norbest does not offer turkeys labeled "Fresh" under the new guidelines.



• Safe food-handling labels:
  
  Norbest has been "user friendly" along safe food-handling lines for decades, as witnessed by its 30-year-old Tender-Timer gauge, the red roasting gauge inserted into the turkey that pops up when the bird is safely cooked -- at 178-180 degrees Fahrenheit.



• Safe food-handling guidelines:
  
  Norbest's long-standing voluntary compliance with U.S.D.A. safe food-handling guidelines continues today with the following instructions on all turkey labels:
  
  
  • Keep the turkey refrigerated or frozen.
  • Thaw in refrigerator or microwave.
    
  • Keep raw poultry separate from other foods.
    
  • Wash working surfaces, including cutting boards, utensils and hands after touching raw poultry.
    
  • Cook thoroughly.
    
  • Refrigerate leftovers within two hours.

  Norbest's penchant for wholesomeness and quality goes well beyond the food labels -- it extends to the processing plants where the company's quality assurance standards are more stringent than local, state or U.S.D.A. guidelines. All Norbest plants have Norbest quality assurance experts as well as continuous inspection by U.S.D.A. inspectors. Modern process controls assure production of wholesome products that comply with or exceed regulatory requirements. Inspectors stress high quality and prevention of errors.



• Professional-quality color photos and broadcast-quality processing plant video stock footage is available on Norbest turkey growing and processing and is available to news editors:
  
  The 10-minute VHS cassette shows 12 key segments of turkey processing from turkey flocks to packaging. It includes no promotional materials, just raw footage. For easy reference, time coding is on the label and each segment has a titled opening. For photos or video cassette, contact:
  
  Paul Reed
  Director of Marketing
  Norbest, Inc.
  P.O. Box 1000
  Midvale, UT 84047-1000
  Email: norbest@norbest.com Phone: 800-453-5327