Say yes to Never Ever

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Family life is hectic. There’s gymnastics and baseball practice and homework and late afternoon conference calls. Trying to put a healthy, well-balanced meal on the table you’re proud to serve your family becomes harder and harder.

That’s where Open Prairie® Natural* Meats can help. Create a meal around our Never Ever natural pork and Angus beef and rest assured your crew will love it.

Never Ever

What’s the definition of Never Ever?

Glad you asked. There are certain things that are not included in Open Prairie® Natural Meats. They are:

  • No antibiotics — ever
  • No added hormones or growth promotants
  • 100% vegetarian diet; no animal byproducts, except for milk

There are also things we do that sets Open Prairie® Natural Meats apart from other Never Ever programs:

  • Animal welfare standards implemented
  • Third-party verified
  • Traceable to the animal’s birthplace through the Trusted Path™ Program

You may be thinking — ‘Okay, that all sounds good. But you kind of lost me — can you translate it into English?’

Sure. Let’s start with an easy one.

No antibiotics – ever

It’s just what it sounds like. If an animal gets sick, they receive care by a veterinarian. If the vet needs to administer antibiotics, the animal is removed from the Open Prairie Natural Meats program.

No added hormones or growth promotants

open prairie natural meats-animal welfare-vegetarian diet
Again, pretty straight forward. But hold up, what do you mean no added hormones? Great question. As any parent of a teenager knows, hormones are naturally found in all animals. So, while the hogs and cattle have them, we don’t add any. By not adding hormones or growth promotants, the animals grow at their natural pace.

100% vegetarian diet; no animal byproducts, except for milk

A healthy diet is developed by a dietician to help the cattle and hogs grow. They are never fed any animal byproducts and do not get any of their protein from animal sources. Their diet provides a balance of nutrients for the overall health of the animals and delivers a flavorful product for you. And what’s with the “except for milk” part? That just means when piglets are weaned from their mamas, we feed them a milk-based supplement.

Animal welfare standards implemented

open prairie natural meats animal well-being promise-responsibly raised beef
We believe ensuring the welfare of animals is not only the right thing to do, it’s our responsibility. We follow Tyson Foods’ FarmCheck® program and other animal welfare best practices. So you know the meat you are buying and eating comes from animals that were responsibly raised.

Third-party verified

Here’s a little behind-the-scenes scoop — we don’t raise our own animals. We partner with independent hog farmers and cattle ranchers who have worked the land and raised animals for generations. But we don’t let just anyone supply our beef and pork. We require them to go through strict third-party audits and on-farm verification to make sure the animals are raised safely and humanely. That includes safe feeding practices, responsible transportation and harvesting facility programs and more.
What in the world is the Trusted Path Program, you ask? It’s something we created in response to our customers’ feedback. Shoppers like you want to know where their food comes from. The Trusted Path Program allows us to trace the meat back to the animal’s birthplace. It gives you peace of mind that Open Prairie Natural Meats are the natural, uncomplicated products we say they are. Pretty cool, huh?

So, there you have it. “Never Ever” isn’t just a meaningless marketing term we throw around. A LOT goes in to bringing delicious and wholesome Open Prairie Natural Meats from the prairie to your plate.

Ready to try a recipe?

open prairie natural meats-never ever beef and pork

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