Turkey Twizzlers have been discontinued for a second time – decades after Jamie Oliver’s battle to have them banned.
The lunchtime favourite was launched in 1997 but quietly disappeared from supermarkets with no warning or announcement.
They were previously axed in 2005 after Jamie Oliver‘s healthy-eating ‘Feed Me Better’ campaign to ban them in schools.
The corkscrew-shaped turkey sausage creations were singled out by the TV chef in his campaign to improve school dinners – and shamed for containing just 34 per cent meat.
Shortly after the series was broadcast, sparking huge national conversations about whether school dinners were helping to fuel the child obesity crisis, Turkey Twizzlers were banned from school menus due to their poor nutritional value.
The move sparked outrage among schoolchildren across the country, who, even 20 years later, still declare that Jamie will ‘never be forgiven’ for it.
Turkey Twizzlers comprised of just 34 per cent turkey meat, whilst the rest of the ingredients included pork fat, rusk, multiple preservatives, and a coating that had 21 ingredients alone.
A 2018 online petition for their return was signed 28,000 times and a healthier version was relaunched in 2020 which contained 63 per cent Turkey.
Turkey Twizzlers have been discontinued for a second time – decades after Jamie Oliver’s battle to have them banned
They were previously axed in 2005 after Jamie Oliver’s healthy-eating ‘Feed Me Better’ campaign to ban them in schools
Rob Thornton and son Reign, age three in 2020, unveiled a 10ft (3m) statue of a Turkey Twizzler at its Great Witchingham Hall headquarters to reveal the release
In what manufacturer Bernard Matthews described as the ‘comeback of the century’, a revamped version of the product went back on sale.
Mr Matthews unveiled a 10ft (3m) statue of a Turkey Twizzler at its Great Witchingham Hall headquarters to reveal the release.
Bernard Matthews told The Sun: ‘Unfortunately, the Turkey Twizzler range has been discontinued and we have no plans to bring these back.
‘The manufacturing site was closed back in March 2024, so the product sadly had to be discontinued thereafter.’
