There will be an extra guarantee of quality for turkeys sold under the Golden Promise label this Christmas.

The Traditional Farmfresh Turkey Association (TFTA) has added two weeks to the maturity needed in its strict code of practice that all members are required to follow.  Their turkeys will now have to be at least 20 weeks old, up from the 18-week minimum in 2005 and 19 weeks in 2006.

“Butchers and consumers look to our Golden Promise label for a superior quality product,” says TFTA president Henry Bryant.

“With greater maturity comes better quality and that’s why most of our members already rear their turkeys to around 24 weeks. The trend among us is to rear the birds longer to full maturity and that’s why we’ve upped the minimum standard.

“There’s no doubt mature turkeys have a better finish, they are easier to pluck and — most important for the consumer — they have a better texture and flavour.  Turkey is naturally a very lean and healthy meat, and with that little extra subcutaneous fat the bird cooks that little bit moister.

“Growing to full maturity differentiates our product even more from the more intensively grown birds which may have only half the age of our turkeys”