Every bite of meat served at Meatopia is all-natural, hormone- and antibiotic-free, and most important, cruelty-free. In the case of Creekstone Farms, our beef sponsor, I have personally visited the beef processing facility and observed every stage of what happens there. (And I do mean every stage.) You can read about it here. Videos will soon follow, both for Creekstone as well as Jim n’ Nicks, American Homestead Natural Pork, Bell & Evans poultry, Strass veal, and all our other products.   Creekstone’s facility was designed by Dr. Temple Grandin, the visionary livestock advocate and animal science expert. All our sponsors are elite companies raising the expectations of the meat industry from the inside out.

We also are very proud to be involved in promoting Whole Foods Market Five-Step Animal Welfare rating as well.  Most of the meat products served at Meatopia can be found at Whole Foods Market, graded according to a system developed by Global Animal Partnership, a nonprofit group dedicated to bettering the way we raise and process livestock. Because WFM is such a huge buyer, they can exert their economic influence on farmers in a positive way, and also provide transparency to ethical customers who want to know they are eating an animal that wasn’t mistreated. Which is something we can all get behind.

Here’s Whole Foods Market’s language promise:

All of the company’s suppliers must meet rigorous animal welfare standards and their processing facilities must pass annual third-party audits that assess animal welfare and food safety. To augment this, Whole Foods Market chose Global Animal Partnership’s 5-Step Animal Welfare Rating program to educate our customers about animal welfare. We’ve been involved with the multi-stakeholder organization since its inception in 2008. The steps are as follows:

Step 1: No cages, no crates, no crowding
Step 2: Enriched environment (things to do!)Step 3: Enhanced outdoor access
Step 4: Pasture centered
Step 5: Animal centered
Step 5+: Animal centered; entire life on the same farm

Meatopia is proud to be associated with ethical producers and purveyors like Whole Foods Market. Farmers and sponsor reps will be at the event and ready to answer any questions about the meat served at Meatopia. If you have any doubts or questions, feel free to at [email protected].