Lynchburg Business

EcoFriendly Foods

Issue: June 2010 by Megan Norcross in Going Green

Imagine being locked in a small, dark room for your entire adolescent life, completely isolated from your mother. If this were to happen to a child, law enforcement would intervene, news stations would swarm the scene and consequences would be had. However, situations like these do occur within the meat and poultry industry that makes up the largest segment of United States Agriculture—with 93.9 billion tons of meat and poultry produced in 2009.

Considering that approximately 307 million people live in the United States, according to the 2009 Census, the amount of meat produced seems standard. However, considering that a good portion of U.S. veal comes from cows held in dark captivity during its short life, eggs and poultry are the result of chickens that are caged together and malnourished and many of our meat sources are treated in ways that are too harsh to print, those 93.9 billion tons seem more radical.

For people like Bev and Janelle Eggleston, the standard of how meat-producing animals are treated simply isn’t good enough. In 2001, Bev, a vegetarian of 10 years, began farming and selling produce to restaurants. A self-proclaimed “conscientious objector” of animal abuse on farms, Bev eventually brought cows and chickens to her farm to help fertilize the produce. With such a passion and conviction for preventing animal cruelty, Bev followed the necessary precautions to ensure that his animals had a happy and healthy life. Suddenly he realized he was raising an organic meat product in a humane way. He had solved his dilemma.

That Thanksgiving, Bev decided to sell some of his turkeys to a local farmer’s market and they sold out in an hour. From there, the idea of raising organic livestock and poultry grew with intensity and enthusiasm. That is, until the Eggleston’s caught a glimpse of the dark side—the processing facilities. Completely disheartened by not only the abuse that the animals endured, but by the lack of attention given in terms of preparing meat for gourmet restaurants, they knew it was time for a change.

“In 2003, we mortgaged our farm in Bristol, Virginia, and bought the plant out in Moneta that would eventually become EcoFriendly Foods,” Janelle explained. “We spent a year renovating the plant and, in 2003, we opened for chicken processing. We wanted to expand; we planned to become a multi-species processing facility, which is rare in the industry. Because most USDA inspectors aren’t trained for multi-species facilities, the process took over nine months.”

In 2004, EcoFriendly Foods finally opened as a USDA certified multiprocessing facility. Not only are they certified organic, but they are also certified humane under the Humane Farm Animal Care program. By even going as far as crawling on their hands and knees through the stalls, Bev, Janelle and the rest of the EcoFriendly team set to find out exactly what an animal experienced—what they saw, what they heard, how the lights shifted—and that discovery helped them adapt their plant into a less stressful experience for their animals.

“Our animals are treated with respect and a high level of reverence,” Janelle said. “They’re giving their lives so we can live our lives and receive nourishment.”

EcoFriendly Foods currently distributes to 75 restaurants around the area and as far as Washington, D.C. Not only are they offering up choice meats to seasoned chefs, they are also taking their cause a step further by partnering with the local farmer.

“You have to start with the farmer,” Janelle explained. “Most farmers want to treat their animals well. Teaching farmers how to raise the animals even more humanely—with rotational grazing and letting the animals be the way they want to be. We hold the hands of our producers. We help them understand breeds, the layout of their land and what animals would be best suited on their land.”

Before a farmer can truly partner with EcoFriendly Foods, they must meet a few requirements, the first being location. If an animal has to travel more than five hours to get to EcoFriendly Foods, chances are a farmer will be turned down due to the amount of stress caused. Secondly, EcoFriendly will go through a checklist with the farmer to evaluate the type of breeds they raise and their practices for feeding the animals and caring for the land. Does the farmer give the animal steroids or hormones? Do they treat their fields with pesticides? All of these questions are vital to a farmer meeting the top-notch standards at EcoFriendly Foods. Once partnered with a farm, the education begins.

“It’s important for the farmer to have a good business sense,” Janelle said. “Understanding cost analyses is vital to the health of a farm. A lot of farmers have not been given the real education of what it means to work with a business. We pay our producers premium prices—they’re rewarded for raising their product the right way.”

As consumers, it’s important to understand where our food comes from and what it takes to bring it to our table. The real cost of food is greater than you’d think. With EcoFriendly Foods, however, a meat-eater can not only rest assured that their food is of the finest organic quality, but also find peace of mind in the knowledge that the animal that brought them dinner was raised and treated in a humane way throughout its life.