Terroir
← All farms

Pitman Family Farms (Mary's Chicken)

Large, vertically-integrated single-family poultry company (~500,000 birds/week per GAP program data), still family-owned.

Sanger, California (Fresno County), USA

ExemplaryVerified

pitmanfamilyfarms.com ↗verification source ↗

Exemplary

Quality assessment

A vertically-integrated, single-family-owned poultry producer carrying an unusually deep stack of independently-audited welfare and feed certifications: Global Animal Partnership steps 3 through 5 (a rigorous tiered welfare-registry program, the poultry analogue of the Iberico Quality Norm that earned Cinco Jotas its rating), Better Chicken Commitment compliance, and first-in-category USDA Non-GMO Project verification. Independent press has also reported worker-safety concerns at Pitman facilities; that is a labor-conditions issue, out of this rubric's sourcing/traceability scope, and is recorded here as a caveat rather than folded into the tier.

Scale
Large, vertically-integrated single-family poultry company (~500,000 birds/week per GAP program data), still family-owned.

Caveats

Independent press (AOL/other outlets) has reported worker-safety/injury concerns at Pitman facilities -- a labor issue, not a sourcing/traceability one, and not scored in this tier.

Products

chicken (Mary's brand)

Practices

Vertically integrated family-owned poultry grower/processorSlow-growth breed program compliant with the Better Chicken CommitmentFirst poultry company USDA Non-GMO Project verified (2013)

Certifications

Global Animal Partnership (G.A.P.) Steps 3-5Better Chicken Commitment compliantUSDA Process Verified Non-GMO (2013, first in poultry)Certified Halal

Served at

Sources

What the quality assessment above is built on.

  • aspca.org ↗

    G.A.P. Step 3-5 certification, 2008 certification date, ~500,000 birds/week

  • cornucopia.org ↗

    Pitman Family Farms as the operating company behind the Mary's brand