llc type private industry poultry founded 2006 headquarters garner north carolina u.s. key people kerry doughty president and ceo products turkey revenue 1.5 billion 2008 owner maxwell farms and seaboard corporation number of employees 5500 1 website butterball butterball is a brand of turkey and other poultry products produced by butterball llc . the company manufactures food products in the united states and internationally specializing in turkey cured deli meats raw roasts and specialty products such as soups and salads sandwiches and entr es . butterball llc was a joint venture of smithfield foods and maxwell farms inc. 2 an affiliate of the goldsboro milling co. 3 seaboard corporation bought smithfield s stake in butterball in 2010 . the company sells over one billion pounds of turkey a year . citation needed though the butterball brand has been formally recognized since 1940 butterball llc was formed in 2006 . in canada the rights to butterball is owned by p & h foods . contents 1 products 2 history 3 corporate 4 turkey talk line 5 criticism 6 see also 7 references 8 external links products edit according to butterball citation needed the following products are sold under the butterball name 4 whole turkeys turkey cuts cold cuts sausage turkey bacon turkey medallions strips chicken strips turkey franks ground turkey frozen turkey burgers mignons meatballs among numerous other brands english bred butterball turkeys are sold in the united kingdom during christmas time for the christmas feast . history edit the butterball plant in downtown longmont colorado the name butterball was originally registered as trademark 378 438 on june 11 1940 by ada walker of wyoming ohio . leo peters purchased the trademark in february 1951 . leo peters licensed the name to swift and co. for 10 years before selling it in the 60 s. peters sold the name butterball to swift which was acquired by conagra in 1990 . leo peters retained rights to use the name butterball farms for his butter products 5 and the company operates today as butterball farms inc. producing and marketing shaped butter products . 6 in october 2006 conagra s butterball branded turkey business was sold to north carolina based carolina turkeys making carolina turkey the largest turkey producer in the united states . 7 the company located southeast of raleigh nc in mount olive north carolina on the wayne and duplin county line subsequently renamed itself butterball llc . 8 in 2008 the company moved its headquarters to a new 12 million building in greenfield north off interstate 40 in garner north carolina . the headquarters has a customer experience center with a special kitchen for promotional demonstrations . 9 smithfield offered 200 million to maxwell farms for the portion of butterball that smithfield did not own . chief executive c. larry pope said at that time that he hoped maxwell farms would spend more on the company s facilities and marketing . a decision had to be made whether to buy maxwell s share or sell smithfield s. on september 10 2010 smithfield announced the sale of its 49 percent share of butterball for an estimated 175 million . maxwell farms will sell 50 percent of butterball to seaboard corp. 1 corporate edit walter gator pelletier past chairman of the national turkey federation is butterball llc s corporate secretary managing all operating activities from turkey production and directing maxwell farms the managing partner of butterball . pelletier is also president of maxwell farms inc. vice president of goldsboro milling company and secretary treasurer of maxwell foods inc. pelletier had joined goldsboro milling company in 1981 . 9 turkey talk line edit beginning in late 1981 butterball has maintained a toll free telephone line called the turkey talk line to help customers with cooking and preparation questions . eleven thousand people called in 1981 and in recent years the number has grown to over 200 000 each holiday season . the most frequent question asked is how long a turkey takes to defrost . in the west wing episode the indians in the lobby president josiah bartlet calls the number referred to as the butterball hotline in the script to discuss stuffing and cooking his thanksgiving turkey . criticism edit animal welfare activists such as mercy for animals the humane society of the united states and peta have accused butterball of animal cruelty . 10 11 12 these organizations cite intentional cruelty inflicted on the birds as well as the incidental cruelty inherent in the slaughter methods used and the breeding practices which produce animals too large to reproduce without human intervention . in october 2012 a mercy for animals investigator documented a pattern of abuse and neglect at numerous butterball turkey operations in north carolina . the investigation revealed workers kicking and stomping on birds dragging them by their wings and necks and throwing turkeys onto the ground or on top of other birds ; birds suffering from serious untreated illnesses and injuries including open sores infections and broken bones ; and workers grabbing birds by their wings or necks and violently slamming them into tiny transport crates with no regard for their welfare . 13 this investigation occurred less than one year after a mercy for animals undercover investigation into a different butterball turkey facility led to five workers being charged with criminal cruelty to animals . mercy for animals 2011 investigation at a butterball turkey factory farm in shannon hoke county north carolina revealed butterball workers violently kicking and stomping on birds dragging them by their wings and necks slamming them into transport crates and leaving turkeys to suffer from serious untreated injuries and infections . 14 as a result of the investigation north carolina officials raided the facility and arrested several employees . 15 in august 2012 butterball worker brian douglas pleaded guilty to felony cruelty to animals marking the first ever felony conviction for cruelty to factory farmed birds in united states history . 16 17 several days later another butterball employee rueben mendoza pleaded guilty to misdemeanor cruelty to animals and felony identity theft . 18 in february 2013 two more butterball workers terry johnson and billy mcbride were found guilty of misdemeanor animal cruelty as a result of mfa s investigation . 19 in addition to the felony and misdemeanor cruelty convictions mfa s investigation at butterball uncovered government corruption . dr. sarah jean mason the director of animal health programs with the north carolina department of agriculture was arrested and pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice charges after admitting to warning butterball about the raid by law enforcement and potentially compromising the criminal cruelty investigation . 20 see also edit taylor rod backward glance talking turkey promo magazine november 2004 references edit a b felberbaum michael 2010 09 10 . smithfield to sell its stake in butterball . news & observer . associated press . retrieved 2010 09 10 . dead link smithfield foods investor information press releases butterball acquisition creates a turkey titan . refrigerated transporter oct 4 2006 . turkey products butterball butterball farms history . butterball farms history . butterball farms product page carolina turkey gobbles up butterball for 325m . triangle business journal october 2 2006 . october 2 2006 . usa today sale of butterball turkey business not expected to change thanksgiving icon a b a major deal that was no turkey . triangle business journal november 16 2007 . november 19 2007 . cite error invalid ref tag ; name major deal defined multiple times with different content see the help page . butterball abuse . mercy for animals . december 28 2011 . retrieved december 28 2011 . butterball s house of horrors a peta undercover investigation . 2010 10 21 . retrieved december 28 2011 . shareholder resolution urges smithfield to help decrease suffering of butterball turkeys . humane society of the united states . december 22 2009 . retrieved december 29 2011 . butterball abuse undercover investigation exposes shocking cruelty ... again . mercy for animals . butterball abuse . mercy for animals . retrieved 5 september 2012 . galli cindy . butterball turkey raided amid animal abuse allegations . abc news . retrieved 25 september 2012 . runkle nathan . making history butterball case marks first ever felony conviction for cruelty to factory farmed birds . mercy for animals . retrieved 5 september 2012 . winter michael 28 august 2012 . ex n.c. turkey farm worker pleads guilty to animal cruelty . usa today . retrieved 5 september 2012 . breaking news another butterball worker pleads guilty to cruelty to animals . mercy for animals . retrieved 5 september 2012 . runkle nathan . breaking news two more butterball workers convicted of cruelty to animals . mercy for animals . retrieved 23 february 2013 . more animal cruelty arrests at butterball facility in hoke county . winston salem journal . retrieved 5 september 2012 . external links edit butterball llc turkey purveyor butterball farms inc. butter purveyor retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title butterball & oldid 739810421 categories brand name poultry meatscompanies based in north carolinaanimal cruelty incidentshidden categories pages with reference errorsall articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from october 2010pages with duplicate reference namesall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from july 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 17 september 2016 at 04 31 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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