Hormone-Free Turkeys Are a Lie
You want to buy the best turkey for your family or friends , but turkeys come in a wide variety of prices and it’s hard to tell which ones are worth the extra money. Here are two labels you shouldn’t pay extra for: hormone-free and cell-free.
“Without hormones” doesn’t make sense because all turkeys sold in the US are raised without hormones . Hormones are used in dairy cattle to make them produce more milk; they are not used in the production of turkey, chicken or pork. On the turkey label, you will see the fine print that says, “Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones.”
Here’s another useless label: no cage. This phrase means something if you are buying eggs, as laying hens are often kept in small cages. But there is no point in cages if you are raising turkeys or chickens for their meat; you just let them run around in the barn (technically, the “poultry house”).