Healthy Nature

Your beautiful whole cooked turkey is the star of the dinner table on Thanksgiving Day. It is the one food that almost everyone loves, and all of your side dishes are planned around your turkey. Since the turkey is such an important part of Thanksgiving, making sure you buy the best turkey possible is imperative.

While there are many turkeys to choose from, you should opt to spend a little more money this year and go for an organic or pasture-raised turkey. Conventional turkeys are pumped with antibiotics, raised in crowded and unsanitary conditions, have little to no outdoor access, and are fed with GMO feed and corn. These are very low-quality turkeys that are not good for the environment and certainly not good for human consumption.

Here are the top reasons why you need to buy an organic or pasture-raised turkey this Thanksgiving and say “no” to conventional turkeys.

No Antibiotics Used

One of the biggest issues with buying a regular turkey that is not organic or pasture-raised is the fact they are pumped full of antibiotics. According to a report by Consumer Reports, people are becoming resistant to the effectiveness of antibiotics to cure sicknesses because so much of our food supply from animals and meats are administered antibiotics on a regular basis. Antibiotics are also not good for humans to use on a frequent basis.

We should not be eating meat or turkeys that are raised with antibiotics. When you buy a turkey for this Thanksgiving, there are a few labels you should look for. The two most ideal labels are USDA Certified Organic and Pasture Raised (or sometimes just Pastured.) Organic turkeys will not be grown with antibiotics as that is part of the label requirement. On the other hand, pastured turkeys may still be administered antibiotics, so you will want to look for additional labels such as Raised without Antibiotics or Never Administered Antibiotics.

No GMOs

Another huge advantage of organic turkeys is they are fed an organic diet and not given GMO feed and corn. When a turkey is fed low-quality factory/industrial produced corn and feed, they are ingesting a very high amount of chemicals, pesticides, and GMOs. Then, when you buy that turkey at the grocery store and ingest it yourself, you are also eating all of those GMOs and pesticides the turkey ate.

Organic turkeys are only fed organic feed and grains. They are not fed food filled with pesticides, industrial GMO corn, and other chemical additives. They are fed a higher quality diet and taken better care of overall, which means it is much healthier and safer for you and your guests to eat as well.

Better Flavor

Although this is up to the discretion of the individual, many people believe that organic meat, including turkey, simply tastes better, richer, and more flavorful than their conventional counterparts. This is likely due to the fact they are fed a better and more nutritious diet, are allowed access to the outdoors, and sunlight, and are raised in much more humane conditions. This is particularly true if you can find an antibiotic-free free-range or pasture-raised turkey.