white turkey (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

I wouldn't be surprised if it meant dark turkey meat that had been
bleached as part of the processing.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Victor Steinbok
> Sent: Friday, July 13, 2012 4:12 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: white turkey
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
---------------
> --------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      white turkey
>
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> --------
>
> I just got off the phone with Kraft Foods Consumer Relations and they
> told me something I found interesting--that's IF thy answered my
> question.
>
> BJ's carries pre-packaged Oscar Mayer Smoked Turkey Breast--or so it
> appears from a quick glance at the package. A closer examination
> reveals
> that what the label actually says is "Smoked Turkey Breast & White
> Turkey". The ingredient list reveals the following items at the top of
> the list: turkey breast, water, white turkey. The rest of the
> ingredients reads like a pharmacy, so I'm going to skip it (the usual
> assortment of preservative and solidifiers).
>
> The question that bothered me, given that the primary ingredient is
> "turkey breast", what on earth is "white turkey"?
>
> Kraft people answered the phone quickly, as customer service lines
> usually do. I asked my question and gave them the UPC number on the
> package. The rep courteously asked for time away from the phone to
> research the question, then came back four times during the next
> half-hour to ask for more time to continue researching. In the end, he
> said that he was told that "white turkey" is just turkey breast meat,
> but they just like to identify the source of the meat, so they list
> "turkey breast" first. He could not explain why the word "meat" does
> not
> appear or why it was necessary to list two separate ingredients that
> supposedly came from the same source. He really could not offer a full
> explanation.
>
> I suggest a likely explanation. "Turkey breast" refers to integral
cuts
> of meat taken out from full breasts of turkeys. "White turkey" is the
> remaining turkey breast crumbs and trimmings that remain behind after
> the rest of the breast is carved up into standard pieces (it's not
> clear
> whether they include skin or not). They are then processed and gelled
> to
> produce "white turkey" paste that's used to give a particular shape to
> the product to make the cuts uniform. They can't call it "meat"
because
> it's processed and they can't call it "turkey breast" because that
> implies whole pieces. It's like the McNuggets vs. other chicken
nuggets
> made from "real chicken breast [pieces]". The former is ground,
> processed and shaped "meat" product, while the latter is actual carved
> out chunks (usually from what is euphemistically called "chicken
> tenders", which also serve as the base for the supposed "boneless
> wings"--no, I'm not making it up: most "boneless buffalo wings" are
> made
> from parts of chicken breast and have no connection to wings
> whatsoever).
>
> All of this is not quite as compelling as the story of "pink slime",
> but
> it does point to the amazing capacity of food processors to come up
> with
> euphemistic names for the products that most people would find
> unappetizing.
>
>      VS-)
>
> PS: For the record, this is not a product I would normally consume.
But
> I'm always willing to sacrifice gustatory quality for the sake of
> research ;-)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org