Please pass the hormone-free, free-range turkey. I think? I’m Amy E. Feldman.
The US Department of Agriculture recently released data showing that this year’s Thanksgiving meal could be the most expensive ever, with the price of turkey increasing by almost 22% over last year. But beyond the price tag, many people are persuaded to buy a more expensive turkey because of the other things on the label, even though some of those terms legally don’t mean anything, like “hormone-free”.
Well, who wants a hormonal turkey? No one. It’s illegal to use hormones when raising poultry—they’re all hormone-free. Don’t pay more for that. “Free-range” sounds good but legally it only means that turkeys had access to the outside, there’s no requirement of when or for how long. For all the things that say free on the label that don’t mean much, the price tag will show you that the turkey is pretty far from free. Instead of cooking up a far-from-free turkey, this year you might want to consider freeloading at someone else’s table.
Leave a Reply