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Good Turkey Award Criteria

Background

  • Turkeys are protected under the general EU animal welfare legislation and are included in the Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 as regards the marketing standards for poultrymeat but are not covered under any detailed species-specific legislation.
  • Main welfare concerns are stocking density, high growth rates, lack of environmental enrichment and inhumane slaughter methods.

Good Turkey Award

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The Good Turkey Award recognises companies that use or are committing to use (within five years) higher welfare systems for turkeys, addressing stocking density, use of fast growing breeds and a lack of environmental enrichment.

To date, more than 1.2 million turkeys are set to benefit each year as a result of our Good Turkey Award winners' policies.

Eligibility and Criteria

You will need to be a well-known or notable food company that can satisfy the following criteria:

 Current policy or five year commitment to achieve:

  • Lower stocking density: Maximum stocking density defined by the “allometric equation” defining the minimum space needed for an active turkey according to its live weight – e.g. 36kg/m² for a 15kg bird or 29kg/m² for a 8kg bird
  • No heavy breeds: Only medium to slow growing strains permitted
  • Active leg health plan: Active monitoring of foot, hip and leg health with an established improvement plan
  • Provision of environmental enrichment: Including perching surfaces, pecking substrates and natural light
  • Slaughter: Controlled atmosphere system or effective electrical stunning system with no live inversion

You can apply for a Good Turkey Award under the following categories:

  1. Fresh turkey
  2. Frozen turkey
  3. Further processed and ingredient turkey

Companies can apply via their engagement with the Food Business team and on completion of an application form signed at Director level.

Where an application is made on a commitment basis, Compassion will remain in contact with award winners over the commitment period, to assess progress made and provide continued support. 

If you have any questions about the Good Turkey Award, please contact us for advice.

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If you have any further questions regarding this, or any other matter, please get in touch with us at supporters@ciwf.org.uk. We aim to respond to all queries within two working days. However, due to the high volume of correspondence that we receive, it may occasionally take a little longer. Please do bear with us if this is the case. Alternatively, if your query is urgent, you can contact our Supporter Engagement Team on +44 (0)1483 521 953 (lines open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm).