Cargill headquarters

This Major Company Is Under Fire for Allegedly Mislabeling Turkeys

A consortium of advocacy groups has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission alleging that food production giant Cargill's turkeys, sold under the Shady Brook Farms and Honeysuckle White brands, are not raised by "independent family farmers," even though their labels say so, which misleads consumers.

November 24, 2020 | Source: Eat This, Not That! | by Steven John

Quick, check the label on your Thanksgiving turkey right now.

A consortium of advocacy groups has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission alleging that food production giant Cargill makes “false and misleading claims about its turkey products” and “routinely exploits” the contract farmers and slaughterhouse workers it employs. More specifically, the complaint claims that Cargill’s turkeys sold under the Shady Brook Farms and Honeysuckle White brands are not raised by “independent family farmers” — even though their labels say so.

Often referred to as an “agribusiness giant,” Cargill is not a small operation. For context, Cargill, which was founded in 1865 and currently employs 186,000 people, is the second-largest privately held company in America today, according to Forbes, with $2.82 billion in earnings in fiscal year 2019. (Related: 8 Grocery Items That May Soon Be in Short Supply.)

The filing further alleges that Cargill misleads consumers about its “purportedly family-farmed products.”