Benefits of certified organic turkey

There are three main reasons to buy a certified organic turkey this thanksgiving.

1. Your certified organic turkey will not have been given growth hormones or antibiotics. This means that you and your family won't be eating these chemical residues, either.

2. A certified organic turkey won't be given genetically modified grain in its poultry feed.

3. Factory-farm turkeys (and other poultry) are fed animal by-products such as meat meal and bone meal, in addition to grains. Organic turkeys aren't fed animal byproducts.

Your certified organic turkey, if also raised "free range" or "free run," will not have been kept in crowded, stressful conditions in a two-foot square cage in a dark barn, as factory-farmed turkeys are. It will have been exposed to natural light and regularly allowed to walk about in a pasture or barn.

For more information on where to buy certified organic, free-range, or humane-certified turkey across Canada, see the links to a select directory of grocers in your province on the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals website at humanefood.ca/humanegrocerlist.html.