PCC Meat and Poultry
Natural meat from trusted partners
Selling delicious, flavorful, high-quality meat and poultry is a priority for PCC. That’s why PCC ensures that all of our meat and poultry comes from range-grazed or free-range animals and is raised naturally without the addition of antibiotics, artificial hormones, stimulants, or animal by-products.
Our meats are sustainably raised to be safe and healthy for your family and easier on the environment. However, the biggest difference in our meat and poultry is in the pure flavor that makes it shine in all of your favorite meals.
We're very pleased to partner with several Northwest neighbors who operate sustainable farms in Washington, Oregon and California. These local partnerships enable PCC to provide the freshest and most delicious meat and poultry options to our customers.
Beef
Country Natural Beef has been our cooperative partner for two decades and is comprised of more than 100 ranching families scattered across the West. Most of the ranches are in Oregon but Washington, California, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado and Hawaii also are represented.
The cattle are pasture- and range-grazed for about 16 months and then finish up for three months in a gathering lot where the rations are potatoes, corn and alfalfa. This finishing process gives the beef a fine, rich flavor, with the kind of marbling that many consumers crave.
• Food Alliance certified.
Eel River Organic Beef — Clint Victorine, owner of Eel River Organic Beef, works his own ranch and is affiliated with Llano Seco Rancho, which has been family-owned since 186l along the northern coast of California. This cooperative arrangement means the cattle graze organic pastures with clover and rye grass year round, irrigated naturally by a subterranean water table. The meat is processed nearby in another family-owned organic facility, ensuring humane treatment from pasture to market.
One hundred percent grass-fed-and-finished Eel River Organic Beef is leaner than grain-finished beef, with a mild hint of sweetness from the clover and grass diet. Because of its lower fat content, it cooks more quickly.
Grass-fed meat typically has two to four times more omega-3 fatty acids and three to five times the CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) than meat from grain-fed animals.
• USDA certified organic.
Poultry
All of PCC's chicken and turkey is free-range poultry with plenty of outdoor access and raised on vegetarian diets without antibiotics. We offer fresh, flavorful choices from a variety of trusted vendors.
Draper Valley Farms — Our "Ranger" free-range chickens are raised locally on the Draper Family Farms in Mt. Vernon, Washington. U.S. corn and soy are the two primary sources of protein and energy for these local birds. Available in a variety of cuts, the Ranger chicken is a great value from a local producer.
Petaluma Poultry Company supplies PCC with certified organic "Rosie" chicken. Petaluma, a pioneering company based in northern California, uses non-GMO organic corn, soy or other feed.
• USDA certified organic.
Diestel Family Turkey Ranch is PCC's turkey supplier. Located in California's Sierra Mountain foothills, this family-owned ranch raises free-range, vegetarian-fed turkeys. Diestel also produces certified organic turkeys, sold under the "Heidi's Hens" label. Both roast beautifully, turning out moist, juicy and full of flavor.
• USDA certified organic.
Lamb
Umpqua Valley Lamb is a cooperative of ranchers from southwest Oregon that supplies PCC with extraordinary lamb products. The lamb is pastured year-round on fields that remain green even in January.
This natural diet of fresh grass, sweet clover, and alfalfa — and plantain and dandelion during the warm season — provides a mild-flavored meat that's notoriously high in healthful conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which offers important healthful benefits.
Pork
Our fresh, delicious pork products are sold under the Pure Country Pork label and produced locally by Paul Klingeman of Pure Country Farms in Ephrata, Washington.
Klingeman attributes the premium taste of his pork to the breed of pigs he raises and to the humane and sustainable practices he employs on his farm. The pigs live together in a comfortable shelter with hay and straw and have ready access to go outside or come indoors as they please. In addition, their diet is locally grown, non-genetically modified corn, free of antibiotics and artificial growth stimulants.
• Food Alliance certified.
Humane Animal Care Standards
All of PCC's meat providers — for beef, lamb, pork and poultry — adhere to standards set by the Humane Farm Animal Care Program, but have not invested in becoming third-party certified.
The Humane Farm Animal Care Program standards ensure a nutritious diet without antibiotics or hormones and that animals are raised with shelter, resting areas, sufficient space and the ability to engage in natural behaviors.
See www.certifiedhumane.org.
|
Delicious, quality meals made simple.
Enjoy a healthy and delicious gourmet meal in minutes with PCC's Natural Express pre-seasoned meat and seafood.
Located in PCC's fresh meat cases, our ready-to-cook entrées are made using only all-natural meats and seasonings.
We are proud to offer you another option for quick, healthy and flavorful family dinners.
To ensure our organic meats are handled and stored correctly, our meat departments are certified organic or in the process of being certified* by the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
*Seven of our eight stores have certified organic meat departments. Our newest store, Redmond PCC, is in the process of being certified as an organic retailer.
The USDA Organic standards enhance the health of farmland, human health and nutrition and promote the health of the environment as a whole.
Read more about the requirements.
The nonprofit organization, Food Alliance, offers a third-party certification program that recognizes and creates market incentives for farms that use sustainable agricultural practices.
Qualifying farms and ranches must run their operations according to strict standards.
Farms are to provide safe and humane care of livestock, reduce pesticide use and toxic substances, conserve soil and water resources, and use no hormones, antibiotics or genetically modified crops on livestock.
|