Dive Brief:
- Foster Farms has released Foster Farms Organic Ground Turkey at retailers and Costco stores throughout California and the Pacific Northwest. This announcement makes Foster Farms the Western U.S.’s largest organic ground turkey producer, according to the company.
- The company said it plans to also release organic whole turkeys in California Costco stores by Thanksgiving as well as other organic turkey products in the future.
- Foster Farms, the largest Western producer of ground turkey, said the moves are in direct response to consumers wanting lighter, leaner and organic food.
Dive Insight:
The loss of 7.5 million turkeys, mainly from Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, is concerning for the turkey industry. But because that number represents only about 3% of the 240 million turkeys in the U.S., according to the National Turkey Federation, consumers shouldn’t see a shortage of the birds come the holiday season this year. This is crucial because demand for turkey products, at least on the West Coast, is going up — 11% growth for ground turkey sales and 76% growth for organic ground turkey sales in the region, according to IRI market research cited in Foster Farms’ news release.
"Foster Farms is committed to producing premium turkey products that provide consumers a variety of high-quality, lean protein options," said TJ Johnson, director of marketing for Foster Farms turkey, in a statement. "We are seeing more consumers using ground turkey as a substitute in recipes to make them leaner and lighter. In line with this trend, the next logical step for Foster Farms was to add an organic option."
This might be the first time in awhile that turkeys have made headlines beyond the bird flu outbreaks that ravaged the Midwest from March to May. Since the summer heat set in, the spreading of the virus slowed, and the amount of cases announced in the U.S. has been significantly less since. Now headlines have been more focused on farms beginning to restock their flocks, lifted quarantines, and the USDA finding a vaccine, which works on chickens, while turkey testing is still in progress.