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Animal Welfare & Audits

We recognize that our success depends on the ability to balance the needs of our team members, communities, customers, and consumers — and provide humane care for our chickens. We use proven scientific methods and guidance from poultry science experts and nationally recognized programs for hatching, housing, and handling.

We meet or exceed humane care practices outlined in the updated National Chicken Council (NCC) Animal Welfare Guidelines. Other practices include regular internal and third-party audits conducted by the Professional Animal Auditor Certifier Organization (PAACO)

Examples of animal care include:

  • Onboarding and annual training programs for farm partners and team members.
  • Following judicious antibiotic and antimicrobial practices.
  • Raising chickens in climate-controlled houses with 24/7 access to nutritious feed and water; and protection from inclement weather, predators, and wild birds potentially carrying devastating diseases like Avian Influenza.
  • Requiring humane catching, transporting, and handling processes following our zero-tolerance policy for the mishandling of birds.
  • The judicious use of antibiotics and antimicrobials; and following U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines for withdrawing all medicines well in advance of processing.
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people

The food industry is complex but building relationships doesn't have to be. We strive to keep our team members, partners, customers, consumers and neighbors well-informed.

Showing our people how important they are to us comes easy. We:

  • Respect diversity within our company and the different roles we play, as we work together toward common goals.
  • Provide ongoing support for our farm partners, so they're successful.
  • Ensure strict adherence to our animal welfare standards, by working closely with our chicken experts (field technicians and veterinarians).

 

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Being a Good Neighbor

Simply put, we believe in being a good neighbor. This means respecting the environment and those around us; focusing on local communities and economies; as well as the environment.

LOCAL COMMUNITIES & ECONOMIES
We believe in community partnership. Together, we provide jobs and support, which in turn, helps our rural economies thrive. We encourage youth to stay active, eat healthy and enjoy education, all of which are top priorities where we live and work. Our support includes donations to local food banks, businesses, recreational youth sports and schools.

ENVIRONMENT
We strive to minimize our environmental impact by continuously evaluating and improving aspects of our operations. Areas of focus include water use, recycling and transportation.

Examples:

  • Reduced water usage by over 70 million gallons annually by reclaiming, treating and reusing over 330,000 gallons daily.
  • Save approximately 6,000 trees by recycling nearly 728,000 pounds of cardboard annually.
  • Over 95% of poultry litter is recycled and sold as an organic fertilizer.
  • Solids from our processing plants are used for biofuels and high-quality, organic fertilizer.
  • Company vehicles are regularly upgraded to meet continuously tighter emission standards.
  • Reduced CO2 emissions by approximately 48,412 tons annually.  This is the equivalent of removing about 242 mid-size cars from the road.