Food Bank Gets Butterball Windfall After Truck Carrying 25K Pounds Of Frozen Turkeys Overturns

Free turkey! (NBC Bay Area)

As my Great Uncle Aloysius always used to say, one wholesale distributor’s loss is a food bank’s gain: After a semi-truck carrying somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000 pounds of frozen Butterball turkeys overturned on a California highway, spilling fuel in the process, a local food bank will reap the benefits.

After the truck reportedly took a turn too quickly yesterday morning, flipping onto its side and jostling its cargo of cardboard boxes packed with turkeys, the food isn’t allowed to be sold in stores, reports NBC Bay Area.

The turkeys were meant for a distribution center and then were going to make their way on to a Costco in Livermore, but they’ll now be going to feed the hungry and homeless at the Alameda County Food Bank in Oakland, a spokesman for the group said. Some of the turkeys will also be shared with shelters in the neighboring county.

“This is a fantastic windfall as our food bank heads into one of the busiest times of year,” the spokesman said. “Receiving this volume of meat protein is rare for us any time of year – and a donation like this simply couldn’t come at a better time. This is going to add a significant helping of holiday joy to thousands of households throughout our community.”

California Highway Patrol officials say the driver “got confused” on the interstate around 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, and rounded a ramp unfamiliar to him at a “high rate of speed.” His rear trailer lost control and the rig hit the guardrail, tipping the truck and spilling between 20 and 40 gallons of diesel on the road.

The driver and co-driver were trapped inside the truck, and were rescued by firefighters. The driver suffered minor injuries.

Meanwhile, all of the turkeys had to first be offloaded from the overturned truck onto another, before the big rig could be righted again. That and the spilled fuel on the road caused traffic problems for hours in the area.

25,000 Pounds of Frozen Turkeys Spilled on Bay Area Highway Will Feed Hungry [NBC Bay Area]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist