Food firm favors antiobiotic-free poultry,
cage-free eggs, rBST-free milk

Food-service innovator Bon Appetit Management Company has made commitments to purchase cage-free eggs and antibiotic-free turkey and significant amounts of local and regional foods for its 190 cafes in 26 states. Cage-free eggs will be phased in to the sites in the next 12 months, with the eventual goal of having all eggs from uncaged birds.

Bon Appetit, which serves 55 million meals a year, made its move on antibiotic-free turkey meat based on its existing policy for chicken, with the goal of reducing antibiotic use in poultry. All of its cafes served 100 percent locally grown foods from within 150 miles of the serving point on an Eat Local Challenge day last fall.

To secure rBST-free milk in the upper Midwest, the company revived a plant in Bismark, North Dakota, that had been closed for two years. Great Plains Dairy Partners, LLC, took over the dairy and revived its Deja Moo brand, thanks to Bon Appetit’s contract to buy its milk for its regional school and corporate food service accounts.
Bon Appétit Management Co. Pledges to Sell Only Cage-Free Eggs in its Nearly 200 Dining Facilities

This news tip from the news page of Rodale’s The New Farm