Every turkey has a story.
As Thanksgiving draws near, we at OCN like to share little tidbits that make the holiday even more meaningful. For instance, did you know that each Jennie-O frozen turkey comes with a 5-digit code that you can use to see where the turkey was raised—and also learn a little about its farmer?
When the Jennie-O turkey tracker first launched a couple years ago, I was understandably intrigued. I mean, everybody has a story—even turkeys, right? And if I were going to write about the Jennie-O turkey tracker, I needed to see how it worked for myself, gosh darn it.
Alas, my family's Thanksgiving turkey, dutifully thawing in the fridge, was not from Jennie-O. We would never know our turkey's story.
Disappointed, but undaunted, I headed to the grocery store to see what I could find.
Four days before Thanksgiving, there weren't too many Jennie-O turkeys left. But I found a few.
Per the turkey tracker, this little fella comes from a third-generation turkey farmer in northwest Minnesota:
All the Jennie-O turkeys I found seem to have come from the same farm. So at least they got to hang with their buddies for a while, post-mortem.
“We are proud that a majority of our turkeys are raised on farms located in Minnesota and western Wisconsin,” Heather Carr, director of whole turkey sales at Jennie-O Turkey Store, said in a statement. “We felt it was important to introduce our local farm partners to our consumers and for them to see the hard work and passion our farmers put in every day to ensure the highest quality animal care for their turkeys.”
The purpose behind the turkey tracker is to increase transparency, as well as showcase Jennie-O's turkey farmer partners, as more and more consumers are curious about the origin of their food.
To track your Jennie-O turkey, find the hang tag's 5-digit code (it begins with a "9") and enter it on the website. Before you know it, you'll be viewing photos of your turkey's home, as well as the good people who raised it.
Don't have a Jennie-O turkey this year? Tough luck.
But whether or not we'll ever know it—Butterball, Honeysuckle White, Jennie-O, or otherwise—every turkey has a story.
So what's your turkey's story? Share it with us in the comments!