The bottom line is this: Read the labels thoroughly, and understand what it is you are buying, cooking, and eating.
The only way to determine if your turkey has been enhanced is to carefully read the label; look for the key-words like "basted", "enhanced", "injected", and "improved". Also look for phrases like "extra tender", "always tender", "moist and juicy", “self-basting”, and "tender and juicy". Lastly, check the ingredients list for salt, phosphates, solution, broth, or flavorings. These are the key words to determining if your turkey has been injected. Even with the words "Fresh" and/or "Natural" could be still be used to describe an enhanced turkey if you read the small print.
Enhanced meat is well grounded in the market chain, and it isn't going away anytime soon. Besides being well rooted in the market place, enhanced meat is extremely profitable. Unsuspecting consumers are drawn to the key-words and key-phrases, with the promise of a better product for a better meal.
Many do not realize that although the end result of the enhancing process is tenderness, the real reason for enhancing turkey is for increasing profits. Enhancing a turkey will; extended the shelf life, enhance the color, and will add additional weight to the package. While a 5% gain in package weight might not seem like a large profit margin; consider the fact that 736 million pounds of turkey are sold each year. 736 million pounds of turkey sold at an average of a dollar a pound will turn that added 5% weight into an additional $36,800,000.00 in annual profits.
Sadly, many consumers do not have fresh meat sources to choose from, so they have no choice but to purchase enhanced meats from the general marketplace.