EPIC foods begins with a living animal
Since our company’s inception, EPIC Provisions has championed the belief that transparency and honesty aren’t just industry ideals—they are necessities for a healthy society. By fostering a safe space for honest dialogue and shared information, we have pushed for more involved, informed, and conscious meat consumption. It is in this spirit that we are proud to present the EPIC Honesty Pledge, which provides a candid look at our company sourcing standards and how we are working tirelessly to improve industry practices as a whole. In doing so, we hope to continue injecting truth and clarity in a realm of business known all too often for murky, inaccessible, and misleading information.
In an effort to shine a light on our supply chain processes and how we source animals for our products, we are revealing our supply chain as it stands. This will help consumers understand where things currently stand and, more importantly, where EPIC is headed. Specifically, we want people to know what they’re eating and what our supply chain looks like—both the pros and the cons—while providing the context essential to understanding the strides EPIC has made in pushing for improved industry standards. Although not every aspect of our sourcing is perfect, the fact is building out quality supply chains takes significant time, effort, and patience. Rather than letting the golden standard (which currently only exists on a small scale) stand in the way of advancement, we are instead focused on climbing the mountain to the highest quality sourcing one step at a time.
Epic Cattle
Dating back thousands of years, cattle have long been fixtures in nearly every agrarian civilization. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that it is one of the animals that EPIC utilizes most. They are also a model for our entire business, as our cattle sourcing is among the most high-quality of any animal supplies we engage with. Similar to our pigs, EPIC’s cows are key drivers in our Whole Animal Project and directly fuel products that make use of their muscle meat, trim, fat, bones, and organs!
All beef is 100% grass-fed, grass-finished on pasture. Cows are raised without antibiotics and hormones. All beef products are GAP Step 4 or above, with the exception of our traditional jerky. We’re working tirelessly to reach our next landmark: ensuring all cattle used in EPIC products are holistically managed by family ranchers who are conscious of how land management and animal impact have lasting effects on future generations.
Our Wagyu beef (used solely in our strips product line) is 100% grass-fed and pasture-raised.
To improve our supply chain of beef, EPIC is working to transition to fully “regenerative” beef protein, ensuring all suppliers are measuring outcomes of positive impact on soil and the environment.
Epic Pigs
The pig is a great example of EPIC’s commitment to utilizing every part of the animal, which inspired our Whole Animal Project. In doing so, we are able to use nearly every piece of the pigs we source, including their muscle meat, pork belly, pork fat, and pig skins. As with our bison, we always try to source from the highest quality source available. Unfortunately, oftentimes we are simply unable to procure enough of it and therefore must supplement the remainder with the next highest quality source available. We are always looking to convert “lower quality” farmers, ranchers, and suppliers over time by incentivizing them to elevate their operations to more EPIC standards.
A prime example of this supply chain challenge is with our pig skins: we source and blend skins from two different “qualities” of pig. We utilize a combination of 1) certified organic and certified humane, 2) certified humane. Both sources are antibiotic and hormone free and GAP Step 1. The feed for the organic pig supply is a blend of organic barley, wheat, pea, soy and corn. The feed for the certified humane pigs is also a blend of barley, wheat, pea, soy, and corn, though it is not organic. Due to EPIC’s desires and pressure, this particular supplier is currently in the process of converting the feed for the second tier of pigs to fully organic over time—which is a major step in the right direction for them and speaks to EPIC’s commitment to working with suppliers to improve industry standards.
Our supply of bacon and pork muscle meat are Certified Humane and consume a blend of barley, wheat, pea, soy and corn. This feed is being transitioned to 100% organic over time as well.
To improve our supply chain of pork we are looking to improve animal welfare standards (particularly pertaining to outdoor access and living conditions).
Epic Chicken & Egg Whites
Similar to our turkey, we currently utilize two different “tiers” of chicken protein for our chicken meat products. We utilize a blend of Gap Step 4, Certified Humane Raised, pasture-centered, Non-GMO project verified chicken, AND cage-free, antibiotic-free, Certified Humane Raised, and Non-GMO project verified chicken. All birds are fed a diet of Non-GMO feed consisting of corn and soybean meal and are raised without the use of antibiotics or growth hormones.
The chicken bones are Certified Organic. They are offered a diet of non-GMO feed consisting of organic corn and soybean meal. Although the birds are kept in barns, they are offered outdoor access.
To improve our supply chain of chickens, we are taking the following steps: (1) transition all chicken feed to non-GMO grains, and (2) transition to fully pasture-raised birds. Our current limitations are efficiencies in pricing (due to volume) and supply availability.
For our egg whites used in performance bars, we currently use egg whites from cage-free chickens. All birds are fed a diet of Non-GMO feed. There is currently a lack of large-scale supply of pasture-raised egg whites, but we are committed to leading the development of a pasture-raised supply chain.