Healthier choices at fast food restaurants are having a healthy impact on the bottom lines of Canadian turkey producers.
Turkey production has reached 56 million kilograms so far this year, almost six million kg higher than at the same time last year.
John Sheldon with the Canadian Turkey Marketing Agency said the increase can be traced back to the buying habits of fast food restaurants, adding the industry has “really taken off in the past year.”
Ron Christianson of McDonald’s Canada said the restaurant chain has bought 700,000 kg of turkey breast meat in Canada in the past 12 months.
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Offering the healthier meat alternative was a natural choice, he added, considering it was already being used in restaurants such as Subway and Tim Hortons.
“When we got into the deli sandwich menu category, that particular segment within Canada was already a $2 billion business, and as such, we knew that customers were looking for that sort of a product,” Christianson said.
“The sandwich that we have the turkey meat as part of is the turkey B.L.T. and that has actually become one of our most popular toasted deli sandwiches.”
Turkeys weighing more than 11 kg are in highest demand. Called Heavy Toms, they are needed to satisfy the demand for breast meat used in deli sandwiches. Sheldon said smaller birds are usable but not as economical.
The increased demand for white meat has also resulted in more dark meat, but Sheldon said that hasn’t been a problem.
“From what I can see, that dark meat is being absorbed within Canada quite easily.”
It is used in turkey kebobs and ground turkey meat, he added.
A profile of the Canadian turkey industry by Agriculture Canada in 2003 said Canadians have a growing desire for products that are high in protein but low in carbohydrates.
Sheldon said the increased demand “fits in with a lot of things that are going on in society. You know, people are looking to reduce their fat intake.” He said the industry is doing its best to keep up.
The increased interest in turkey meat has also affected the industry’s quota system.
McDonald’s turkey B.L.T. sandwich resulted in an additional two million kg quota allocation in 2004-05 and Sheldon said it will increase by another three million kg in 2005-06.
Rose Olsen of the Saskatchewan Turkey Marketing Association said western Canadian provinces provide 10 to 11 million kg of turkey to restaurants and hotels and that McDonald’s buys 30 percent of its turkey meat from the West.
Olsen said the quota system needs to be improved because Saskatchewan’s turkey industry is not growing as fast as it could be.
“In the West, we haven’t been too happy with the whole provincial allocations anyway,” said Olsen. “It doesn’t seem like we grow very fast, that’s the whole issue.”
Louann Chursinow of the British Columbia Turkey Marketing Board agreed. She said her province has the highest consumption rate but the quota is not high enough to meet in-province demands.
A 2004 National Farm Products report showed Western Canada accounted for 29.7 percent of the market share in 2003, while Eastern Canada produced more than 60 percent. There were 550 turkey growers in Canada in 2003.
