Foster Farms will provide turkey for presidential pardon
Foster Farms will provide the turkey to be “pardoned” by President Barack Obama just before Thanksgiving, the second time it has had the honor in five years.
The Livingston-based company will choose the turkey from a small flock that it is raising as candidates.
“Meet the flock, America!” Foster Farms tweeted. “Learn what goes into raising the @PrezTurkey straight from the ranch.”
The National Turkey Federation has presented holiday birds to presidents since Harry Truman in 1947. President George H.W. Bush started the pardon tradition in 1989, supposedly sparing this one turkey from a dinner table.
Foster Farms went all out the first time it provided the turkey in 2010. It invited the media to the ranch east of Modesto where the candidates were being raised. A couple of public relations people dressed as Secret Service agents stood guard by the chosen fowl.
The turkey was selected based on appearance and the calm temperament needed to travel by plane to Washington, D.C., and stand by the president at the White House.
For the 2015 version, Foster Farms held a “meet the candidates” event Friday at the InterContinental Hotel in San Francisco. It will choose the winner at a Modesto-area ranch Nov. 19 and fly it on “Turkey One” to Washington, D.C., four days later.
This is not the only holiday season exposure for the company, the leading poultry producer in the West. The second Foster Farms Bowl, to be played in Santa Clara the day after Christmas, will involve college football teams from the Pac-12 and Big Ten.
This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 3:44 PM with the headline "Foster Farms will provide turkey for presidential pardon."