Norbest Inc. has tightened its quality control to ensure Christmas turkeys are fresh after a fraction of the company's Thanksgiving turkeys spoiled, prompting a recall in Idaho and other western states.
"We sure want to get the message out that we're watching our turkeys like hawks," said Mike Korologos, Norbest spokesman at company headquarters in Salt Lake City.He said about 20 out of 70,000 fresh Thanksgiving turkeys spoiled, less than three-hundredths of 1 percent of the total shipped. But Norbest immediately recalled shipments, offering refunds and issuing warnings to check for spoilage.
Frozen turkeys were not affected and there were no reports of any health problems.
The turkeys came from a Norbest plant in Salem and were distributed in Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Montana and Wyoming. Most of the spoiled turkeys were found in Oregon and Washington.
Korologos said Norbest still has not tracked down the exact cause of the spoilage, but the company suspects it was probably a chain of events.
"It could have been a vat that was just a degree too warm, then the turkeys sat in a truck too long, and then they sat on a grocery shelf that wasn't quite cold enough," he said. "It just finally added up."
Korologos said the Norbest board of directors already had ordered tougher inspection standards last spring, and the company was still in the process of tightening controls.
"Each plant will have quality assurance staff. Keep in mind this is in addition to the U.S. Agriculture Department inspector in the plant," he said. "Our person works independently of the USDA inspector. And most often we've worked with a lot stricter standards than USDA standards."
Korologos said about 40 percent of the turkeys sold nationally during the year are purchased between Thanksgiving and Christmas. He said that marks a turnaround from 80 percent of total sales during the holidays just a few years ago, reflecting efforts of the industry to make turkeys year-round food.