Well, if you need turkeys for Thanksgiving, I hope you’ve got them booked by now, since it needs to be done well in advance. Thanksgiving is just nine short weeks from today!

Most pre-book orders for mid-November turkey deliveries were due weeks or months ago, depending on the turkey processor. I had to give initial numbers to our suppliers way back in February. I’m hearing that turkey supply will be tight this year. What are you hearing?

I sell a good number of whole turkeys to companies that give them away as a holiday bonus to employees. Most of my customers accepted the price increase between last year and this year with a mature sigh, understanding that the price of ... well, pretty much everything, is up compared to a year ago.

I only had one customer offer pushback on pricing, until I sent them information and charts about the price of feed last year compared to this year. That was enough of an explanation for them.

I did have several customers downgrade from ABF whole birds this year to natural birds in order to save some money. I also have several customers just wanting the cheapest frozen birds I can find, pumped or not. Are you seeing this downgrade trend too?

I sell whole bird turkeys that are never frozen and arrive fresh at our warehouse. The reason for this is that my customers want to give turkeys to their employees right before Thanksgiving and they want a fresh bird that doesn’t need to be thawed.

Many of my customers ask, what does "fresh" or "frozen" mean on a turkey label? That’s a good question, and thankfully the USDA website has the answer:

The term "fresh" may ONLY be placed on raw poultry that has never been below 26°F. Poultry held at 0°F or below must be labeled "frozen" or "previously frozen." No specific labeling is required on poultry between 0 and 26°F.

This poultry label rule addresses a truth-in-labeling issue, not a food safety issue, because most pathogenic bacteria do not multiply (or multiply very slowly) at normal refrigerator temperatures. The Agency concluded that the term "fresh" should not be used on the labeling of raw poultry products that have been chilled to the point that they are hard to the touch.

My general rule is that if I push my thumb into a whole-body turkey and can’t put a dent in it even slightly, the bird is frozen. Selling turkeys that have been held above 0°F has been commonplace my entire meat selling career, but I didn’t know about this practice for other proteins — until just two years ago.

Now beef sub-primals are held at temperatures below 32°F to allow aging to stop. Ribeyes are held from summer and fall then sold at Christmastime using this method. This product is never hard-frozen but it’s held in a practical state of suspended animation at that temperature.

This allows retailers and food service distributors to sell ribeyes at better-than-normal December market prices. It’s been a greatly successful practice. If the meat is slacked out properly, I don’t know of any downside to this practice. Do you?

There are companies that specialize in this area now. They can help hold your product for months to avoid market fluctuations and to help stock up on pre-holiday demand. They can also help with exports that require extended shelf life. Do you have experience with this practice? Have you had any issues or advice to share?

A little advanced prep work goes a long way toward maximizing sales and customer satisfaction for the holidays, which are right around the corner. Get ready to gobble gobble!

When is ‘frozen’ meat really frozen?

Join for free* to continue reading.