When you choose products from House of Raeford Farms, you get chicken that’s nutritious, delicious, and 100 percent natural. And that’s according to plan—a plan that starts, but doesn’t end, with the following practices and policies.
We start with healthy chicks from the eggs of healthy breeder flocks.
Raised right. Breeding is done in the traditional manner—there’s absolutely no genetic engineering or genetic modification. No growth hormones. No steroids. None.
Raised well on family farms in large, comfortable, climate-controlled chicken houses equipped with sophisticated humidity and ventilation systems. Chickens have constant access to food and water, are cage free, and are provided periods of both light and darkness. Admittance to the houses is highly restricted to keep diseases out.
Daily care of flocks by trained family farmers with audits by independent outside firms and routine inspections—at least weekly—by company flock supervisors who consult with our corporate veterinarian and monitor the whole farm for animal health, safety, environmental impact, and regulatory compliance to ensure that our flocks are well taken care of.
A nutritious diet of high-quality corn and soybean meal, supplemented with vitamins and trace minerals. Our nutritionist creates the feed formulas and we make them ourselves to control the quality.
No Antibiotics Ever. The use of antibiotics in animal production and the potential for antibiotic resistance are important issues for consumers and House of Raeford Farms: Our No Antibiotics Ever (NAE) policy is transparent and fully explained here. The long and short of it is that we rely heavily on multi-faceted systems and practices that promote good health and minimize the need for antibiotics, and use them only when absolutely necessary to keep our chickens healthy and safe. We never use antibiotics to improve growth.
Extreme diligence in the processing plants. We use USDA-approved practices to ensure our products are safe and wholesome. We follow Good Manufacturing Practices. We sanitize during operating shifts and in the downtime in between, following a Standard Sanitation Operating Procedures (SSOP) plan.
Testing, testing. Microbiological tests are conducted on both equipment and products by our own inspectors and by federal poultry authorities to meet and exceed sanitation regulations set by the USDA.
USDA personnel on site at every plant to inspect every bird.
SQF certification in seven of our processing plants. SQF (Safe Quality Food) is a leading global food safety, quality certification, and management system that provides independent certification that a supplier’s food safety and quality management procedures comply with international and domestic food safety regulations. Locations undergo a rigorous certification process initially and must be re-certified annually.
An alphabet soup of testing, training and certification groups and agencies. HAACP. FSIS. USDA. SQF. The list goes on, but suffice it to say that, together, they spell safe, wholesome chickens and chicken products from clean, sanitary processing facilities.
Choose chicken and feel great.
In addition to being safe and wholesome, House of Raeford chicken is an important source of high-quality protein—which means it contains the eight essential amino acids—and of heme iron, zinc, niacin (vitamin B3), vitamin B6, and vitamin B12.
Chicken is also naturally low in sodium and relatively low in fat. In fact, chicken breast eaten without the skin has less fat than sirloin steak, pot roast, lean hamburger, pork chops, or ham (but you can keep the skin on while cooking chicken and add no fat or calories to the meat).
It all comes down to this: House of Raeford offers products that everyone—our own families included—can feel good about serving.
To read more about how healthy chickens are raised, visit The National Chicken Council’s Chicken Checkin.