If you would like to think your Christmas turkey enjoyed its short life before becoming the centrepiece of your festive dinner table, then you should think organic, according to the Consumers Association of Ireland. Free-range turkeys are a compromise, the association claims, as they may be fed commercial feed. By law, free-range turkeys must have a certain amount of pasture available to them during daylight hours.

"Some operators observe the letter of these laws but not their spirit. The only way to be sure the fowl has been treated humanely is to check the supplier yourself," it says.

If you decide to buy organic, it does not come cheap. At Tesco this Christmas, you can expect to pay £1.40 a lb for fresh turkey, £1.99 a lb for free range and £2.63 a lb for organic. Demand for organic turkeys this year is up 115 per cent, says a spokeswoman for Tesco.

In Superquinn, organic turkeys are 33 per cent more expensive than free-range which in turn, are 60 per cent more expensive than intensively-reared turkeys. The demand for free-range turkeys is higher than the demand for organic, according to Paula Mee, food and nutrition adviser at Superquinn, which will supply 4,000 free-range and 600 organic turkeys this year.

Nuala King, a poultry specialist with Teagasc, makes the point that if every family in Ireland wanted an organic or a free-range turkey, supply could not meet demand. "By and large, intensively-produced turkeys are well produced. People may dislike them being reared indoors but the environment is constantly monitored," she explains. "It's fairly well known scientifically what their comfort zones are . . . their heat tolerances and what stresses them. They are not reared in cages and they have a litter area to scratch in although stocking densities may be fairly high." Three organisations regulate organic standards in the Republic, so look for birds certified by the Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association, Demeter or the Irish Organic Trust. Their standards are stringent and very detailed, covering outdoor access, housing, litter, feeding, veterinary practice and slaughter dates.

Eighty per cent of annual feed must be organic, with all feed guaranteed free of genetically modified organisms. In-feed medication or any other feed additives are prohibited. No growth promoters can be used. Department of Agriculture rules provide that both free-range and indoor turkeys may be slaughtered at a minimum of 70 days while the organic organisations provide for a minimum slaughter age of 140 days.

The term "free range" may only be used if certain conditions are met. These include continuous daytime access (for half its life) to open-air runs with a minimum area of four square metres for each turkey, to be mainly covered by vegetation. The feed used in the fattening stage must contain at least 70 per cent cereal.

Ms King says the outdoor space allocation (2,500 birds a hectare) is sufficient as the pasture is not in continuous use. The land will get a rest period between crops of turkeys. Organic turkeys have outdoor access for two-thirds of their life, with a stocking maximum of 800 birds to each hectare. Longer life, more outdoor time, fewer turkeys in the same space all translate into a better life for the turkey. Does the consumer benefit too?

MS Mee says: "From a nutritions and health point of view, organic turkeys don't provide any more nutrition than a free-range or commercially reared turkey . . . it won't have any more protein or iron. There won't be a huge difference in terms of flesh composition.

"There's no conclusive evidence that we are any better off eating organic rather than conventional lifestock but in many people's minds the environment will benefit from an organic approach," she says.

Conventional and free-range poultry may be fed small non-pharmacological amounts of antibiotics, called mycins, which promote growth. Ms Mee says Superquinn has asked its suppliers not to use these in poultry but, in the case of turkeys, where rearing is so intensive, this hasn't happened yet.

Ms King says there is a withdrawal period before turkeys are slaughtered so there is no danger of residues. "I'm a turkey eater and I'm confident of the quality," she says. Choice of free-range, organic or intensively-reared is really to do with personal preference and budgetary considerations, she says.

Ms Mee says there is a perception that organic or free-range birds taste better, although analysis of the meat shows no significant difference. Scientific evidence from double-blind tastings do not bear out the taste difference but, anecdotally, people say they can taste the difference.

Noreen Gibney, operations manager at the Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association, says the size of the organic turkey market is hard to predict. The main problem is there aren't sufficient suppliers to meet demand. The difficulty in the poultry sector is that the organic standards, which have been agreed by the three organisations, are very demanding in terms of space for each bird, she says.

New organic standards are under discussion with the Department of Agriculture. Whatever about the method of production, the effect of turkey on your waist line shouldn't be a consideration. Low in fat, a 100 gr serving of white meat translates into 132 calories while dark meat is a little higher in fat and calorie content.