A “small number” of fresh market turkeys that were purchased from Whole Foods “did not meet our high expectations for quality,” the letter from Amazon customer service said. The note stressed there was no known food safety or health risk with any of the turkeys, but still, its recipient would be given a $50 Amazon gift card credited to their account.
“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and are grateful to be a part of your holiday feasting,” the email said.
Reached for comment by CNN, Whole Foods confirmed that it had “discovered a small number of fresh turkey products in our South region that did not meet our high expectations for quality.”
“While these products do not pose any known health risks, we know how important holiday meals are to our shoppers and have proactively contacted customers who potentially purchased one of these turkeys,” the company said.
Stores in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, as well as two in the Florida panhandle were impacted, Whole Foods said.
The company assured that not all fresh turkey products were affected, nor did it say what, exactly, went wrong.
Whole Foods was also seen responding to some customers on Twitter re-affirming that the turkeys were safe to eat, and pointed them to US Food and Drug Administration guidelines for safely roasting a turkey.
The FDA’s website says fresh turkeys shouldn’t be bought more than 1-2 days before they are cooked. The guidelines say ovens should be set to no cooler than 325, and a whole turkey is safe when its cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 165 degrees.
