Butterball fresh turkeys

[jt'smom]

Just curious, isn't the point of paying a buck more per pound for a fresh turkey, because it's a fresh turkey? I was in Winn Dixie yesterday and they had a whole freezer case full of half-frozen "fresh" Butterball turkeys. When I asked the meat dept. man about it, he told me that they always come to the store frozen. I must be the only middle aged woman on earth that didn't know this turkey secret

 

[Pamlur]

No, he's not correct.

http://www.norbest.com/consumer-corner/how-to-tips/fresh-frozen-or-refrigerated-2/

 

[tvguy]

No, he's not correct.

http://www.norbest.com/consumer-corner/how-to-tips/fresh-frozen-or-refrigerated-2/

Maybe I'm splitting hairs but your links says they keep "fresh" turkeys at 26 degrees, which is frozen to me. So he IS technically correct since 32 degrees is freezing. but isn't the zero degrees that frozen turkeys are kept at.

 

[LBIJim]

Go poke at the "fresh" turkeys at any supermarket. Often it's obvious that they've been at least semi-frozen before being put into the display cases. The same goes for a lot of "fresh" chicken.

Much of the "fresh" seafood needs to be labeled as "previously frozen."

 

[Deb in IA]

When I go to pick up my pre-ordered fresh turkey, the guy at the meat counter always goes to the walk-in refrigerator in the back to pull out my bird, and it doesn't have any frozen parts.

But this is a local Hy-Vee brand turkey - not a Butterball.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I just went to the Butterball web-site.
They don't mention that the 'Fresh' turkeys have actually been below freezing. Only that they do not need thawing. (assuming that this is by the time you select it from the refrigerated case in the store and get it home...)

I did print the $3.00 coupon that they have a link for, on coupons.com.
Might save me three bucks!

Anyhow, I imagine that there is a big difference in deep-freezing, and chilling meat to just-below-32'.

They could not hold turkeys at the higher temperature due to food safety concerns. Just couldn't. So, by fresh, maybe the mean that the turkey wasn't processed months/weeks ago, and held in deep freeze.

Seems safer to me to not be trying to thaw a deep-frozen turkey for days!!!

 

[Pamlur]

I went to look for more "official" information. I found an article on the various terminology for turkeys; I copied it on my Mac to paste it here, but for some reason that one can't access the community board right now. I'm not sure how to c/p with this Windows machine, but it does say that turkey doesn't freeze at 26 degrees. That is the temperature that fresh turkeys are kept at to inhibit bacterial growth. If I can figure out how to paste the article with this computer, I will. If not, I'll be back when my Mac isn't so sluggish.

Disclaimer, I don't buy fresh turkeys, this just triggered my curiosity because I saw a huge cooler of fresh turkeys at Whole Foods on Sunday, and they weren't semi-frozen.

Okay, the Mac woke up:

Fresh Turkeys – Turkeys labeled as “fresh” must not be cooled to a temperature lower than 26 degrees Fahrenheit. Although this is below the freezing temperature of water, turkey meat does not freeze solidly at this temperature and is therefore not considered frozen. This temperature allows for maximum suppression of bacterial growth while maintaining the meat's integrity.

 

[LBIJim]

The info about shipping and storing at 26F is interesting.

But I still consider most supermarket fresh turkeys as "pre-thawed for your convenience."