Spare a thought for the turkey on your plate

Christmas time means the end of the road for many a turkey, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be well looked after while they’re alive, says the RSPCA.

The animal welfare organisation is encouraging people to choose turkeys from its Freedom Food label, which are reared in environments that meet RSPCA standards.

Happily, it seems that demand for ethically sourced food is on the rise in Britain, with more shoppers putting welfare before size and price.

In a new survey for the charity, 34% said that if they were to buy a turkey for the Christmas dinner this year, they would choose one with a higher welfare label such as Freedom Food or free range.

Just 10% said they would buy the cheapest, largest turkey they could find.

The survey found a lack of awareness, however, when it comes to the welfare of turkeys that end up in our supermarkets.

More than half (52%) estimated that a fifth of UK turkeys are reared to RSPCA welfare standards. Just under a third (30%) put the figure at more than 40%.

In fact, turkeys from farms inspected to RSPCA standards and sold under the Freedom Food label, account for only 7% of all British farmed turkeys.

This means the majority of the 16 million turkeys reared in the UK each year are kept in conditions deemed "unacceptable" by the RSPCA.

RSPCA farm animal scientist Alice Clark explains: “We are really concerned about the way the majority of turkeys in the UK are looked after.

"Most of them are kept in a very barren environment where they simply aren’t given enough space to move around and exercise properly.

“Turkeys are intelligent birds and naturally inquisitive. They need things to do, such as objects to peck at and perch on.”

The vast majority of those surveyed share this concern, with 81% saying they think more turkeys should be farmed to RSPCA standards.

Recent trends suggest a change towards more ethical turkey farming. The number of turkeys from farms that met the RSPCA’s welfare standards soared 36% last Christmas, from 1,015,000 in December 2009 to 1,379,000 in December 2010.

For the first time, budget supermarket Lidl will be stocking Freedom Food turkey. The ethically sourced turkeys can also be found at Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

Clark added: “The good news is we can all do our bit to help improve their lives by choosing turkeys with higher welfare labels, such as Freedom Food or free-range. But we need supermarkets to help too, by listening to consumer demand and stocking more of them.”