Natural Grocers Introduces Thousand Hills Beef in All Stores

On the heels of the North American Meat Institute’s 2018 Annual Meat Conference, Natural Grocers has announced its launch of Thousand Hills’ Lifetime Grazed beef in its stores. The humanely raised, grass-fed line is available in all 145 Natural Grocers stores across 19 states.

The announcement follows the release of the Power of Meat 2018—the 13th annual study from the Food Marketing Institute, the Foundation for Meat & Poultry Research & Education, and NAMI—which revealed at the AMC the latest consumer trends in meat planning, shopping and consumption habits. The study found that transparency is driving purchases as consumers seek products with more information pertaining to corporate and social responsibility practices among companies, including callouts for natural, organic, hormone-free and antibiotic-free products.

“People expect animals to be on the land grazing with room to express their natural behaviors, treated humanely and not given antibiotics or drugs to unnaturally accelerate their growth—but that isn’t the norm,” said Heather Isely, EVP of Lakewood, Colo.-based Natural Grocers. “We offer meat that matches the quality standards our customers are looking for.”

Natural Grocers said it provides full transparency of its products in an effort to maintain the highest meat standards in the nation’s grocery industry. At a minimum, these standards include humane raising requirements, no hormones, no growth-promoting drugs, no use of antibiotics, no animal byproducts and a preference for non-genetically modified feed.

Related:Retailers, Suppliers Share Their Stories at AMC 2018

“Our customers tell us they expect the animals to be out on pasture, grazing their entire lives, [with] no antibiotics, no hormones, no growth promoters and no GMOs,” said Isely. “We want our customers to be confident that the grass-fed beef they are serving their families is truly grass-fed and matches their expectations.”

Thousand Hills’ cattle are humanely raised on ranches throughout the Midwest and Great Plains, and are 100% grass-fed and lifetime grazed without the use of feeding grains, grain byproducts, GMOs, antibiotics, growth promoters or artificial hormones, according to company officials. The cattle are not kept in feedlots or confinement.

“At Thousand Hills, we focus on one mission: nourishing soil, plants, cattle and people by holistically grazing cattle for their lifetime,” said Matt Maier, owner and Chief Grass Farmer of Thousand Hills. “There are many compromises and shortcuts that can be taken with grass-fed beef, but we don’t believe in shortcuts and do strongly believe that keeping cattle grazing on the land benefits the cattle, soil, grasslands, environment and the final nutrient-dense product we enjoy.”

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