Third Party Certifications Archives

February 20, 2020

Organic Chicken Explained

Do you know what “organic” chicken means? I find that most people – Buy organic chicken and think they know the differences (and are likely wrong), OR Buy organic chicken and hope it’s better for them without knowing the differences, OR Don’t buy organic chicken because they think “organic” is all marketing hype. When the...

May 29, 2019

Organic Meat in Styrofoam Packaging?

I recently met with our friends from Rodale Institute, the original promoters and leaders of organic farming. I love meeting and brainstorming with other forward-thinking individuals who care as much as I do about good, honest, healthy food. Rodale has been a great resource to Bell & Evans for many years. During the meeting, I...

January 14, 2019

The Significance of Our Oregano Oil Supplement

It was six years ago that the New York Times wrote a story about our use of oregano oil in chicken feed. Now that “oregano” has become a buzz word in the industry, I thought it would be helpful to explain why and how we use oregano oil in our feed and clarify the differences...

April 20, 2018

Is Your “Organic” Purchase Organic?

When you pay a premium for “organic,” you assume the item you’re purchasing is free from pesticides, fertilizers, antibiotics or food additives. You believe the producer and its suppliers and farmers are committed to providing high quality foods, using agriculture’s most sustainable best practices. This should be the case! Unfortunately, a growing demand for organic...

April 9, 2018

My Opinion of the Proposed Organic Livestock Care Rule (and its Cancellation)

Kudos to the Trump administration for canceling the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices Rule. For those who aren’t entrenched in the day-to-day operations of raising organic broiler chickens, the proposal may have seemed reasonable. I want to explain why it’s not. First, I completely agree with developing consistent, higher standards for organic chicken farming. Bell...

March 6, 2018

Egg Care – Demand No Formaldehyde!

Formaldehyde is commonly used to disinfect eggs. Despite being a toxic chemical, profit-driven producers use formaldehyde to fumigate eggs because it’s a cheap way to minimize bacteria. Formaldehyde has been linked to cancer and other serious health issues, so I decided many years ago that it had no business near my eggs or team members. ...

November 6, 2017

No Cut Corners – How Even Our Chick Transport Trailers Exceed the Norm!

When it comes to chick transportation, our trailers are the Rolls Royce! We recently purchased two “HatchTravellers” from HatchTech, the same Dutch company that designed our chick hatchers at our new World’s First Organic Certified Animal Welfare Focused Chicken Hatchery. It only made sense to turn to our innovative friends again for new trailers, especially...

October 5, 2017

Baby Wipes…Really?

Some commodity chicken producers claim to wipe down their eggs with baby wipes. We don’t do this at Bell & Evans, and I think this practice raises some questions. Freshly laid eggs have a natural, anti-bacterial coating on them called the bloom that keeps bacteria from entering. Shells are porous, so when you wash off...

September 5, 2017

It’s Official! We have the World’s First Organic Certified Animal Welfare Focused Chicken Hatchery!

This has been an exciting time for Bell & Evans! On Saturday, August 26, the first chicks began to hatch at our brand new hatchery. Those chicks were delivered to our farms on Monday, August 28, the same day that our Hatchery received its “organic certification” from Pennsylvania Certified Organic, a nonprofit certification agency accredited by...

August 4, 2017

National Organic Program (NOP) and National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) – What are they thinking?

Scott’s Perspective… Excerpt from Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, Agriculture—National Organic Program, 205.236*: “Poultry or edible poultry products must be from poultry that has been under continuous organic management beginning no later than the second day of life.” Wow. The NOP’s recent proposal to change the Organic Standards in the United States really got me...

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