What do you mean by ‘free-range’?

Normally found when dealing with chicken, pork, and eggs. Free range animals are raised free of cages and provided access to the outdoors.

Central Park Farms’ chicken is free range with unlimited outdoor pasture access once they're old enough to handle outdoor temperatures.

Do you give your animals antibiotics or medications?

No we don’t — Central Park Farms’ free range chicken, eggs, pork, and beef is antibiotic free.

We will not however refuse treatment of a sick animal, we just simply do not sell that meat to our customers. Instead we allow for the safe and legal withdrawal period and either eat the meat personally, or often we donate this healthy meat to our local food back for families in need in our community.

It’s worth mentioning that after the withdrawal period this meat is safe. From transparency reasons we remove this meat from our Central Park Farms program so you can feel confident that the products you’re feeding your family come from animals never treated with medications.

Do you give your animals hormones?

In Canada, no hormones are permitted by law to be given to chickens or hogs. So all chicken and pork grown in Canada — Central Park Farms’ meat included — is hormone free.

However, chicken and pork sold in grocery stores can be imported from other countries, in which case added hormones may have been used.

In Canada, hormones are permitted in beef cows; however we choose to raise hormone-free beef. It’s important to note that before an animal can be processed, it legally needs to have gone through a withdrawal period.

It’s important to note that all animals have natural hormones but Central Park Farms chicken, pork, beef, and eggs are all free of added hormones. We never use growth hormones.

What do you feed your chickens?

Our poultry — both our meat birds and our egg layers — are fed a locally milled, non-GMO, soy-free, and corn-free feed.

Aside from their non-GMO feed, they also consume anything they can scratch up from their pasture including grass and bugs. So although our feed is free of any animal by-products, due to their ability to eat bugs and grubs our chickens are not vegetarian and naturally as omnivores, they shouldn't be.

Do your cows get any grain?

Our cattle are fed only 100% grass and hay. They never receive any grains.

We feed our cattle quality, high-protein alfalfa which helps give them a better fat marble than grass fed beef raised on low quality grass/hay.

Where are your animal processed?

All our animals are processed at federally and provincially inspected plants in the Fraser Valley and butchered locally by the team at Lepp Farm Market.

Are your products gluten and dairy free?

All our meat products are including our sausages are gluten and dairy free however, please keep in mind that our butchers are not a gluten and dairy free facility so although unlikely, cross contamination can happen.

Our line of chef crafted prepared foods are not gluten and dairy free, please review the ingredients list of individual products for more information.

Is your cured meat like ham nitrate and nitrite free?

Our dry-cured meats use nitrites as a necessary preservative to increase shelf life, enhance colour, and most importantly, to eliminate the harmful Botulism bacteria.

The local health authority requires all producers to use one or the other. We choose to use naturally occurring nitrites (celery salt).

All cured deli meats use sodium nitrate or nitrite as preservatives, even those labelled organic or natural.