Norpac Brand Beef
Norpac brand beef utilizes all of the aforementioned Norpac advantages to bring customers a product that is unrivaled when it comes to yield, palatability, visual appeal, and quality to satisfy the Ontario niche market with locally raised beef.
Norpac Grass Fed Beef
Raising Grass Fed Beef is quite a challenge in Ontario due to seasonal growing restrictions. However, Norpac works closely with their local farmers to successfully produce a product that is true to its form. In order to accomplish this, cattle are pastured locally in Southwestern Ontario during the spring, summer, and autumn months. When pasture becomes unavailable due to the winter climate, cattle are fed a diet of dried grasses that closely resemble the local grass pastures they would normally be grazing. By not cutting corners with our true grass fed program, we are able to provide our customers with what we challenge is some of the best grass fed beef available anywhere in the world.
Norpac Grass Fed Program Requirements
- Cattle must be fed pasture grasses throughout their lifetime;
- At no time during the process can the cattle be fed a stored grain product;
- At no time can the cattle be injected or fed an antibiotic; and
- At no time can the cattle be implanted with a growth promoter (hormone).
Cattle must be:
- Born & raised in Ontario;
- Handled with the utmost respect and care;
- Transported with the utmost respect and care;
- Under 30 months of age;
- Of the highest quality and breed; and
- In perfect health.
Family Farmed
Using a smaller scale approach, and a farmer and animal friendly business model, Norpac has been able to reduce the food gap (between end user and farmer) that exists in the food chain.
Norpac is able to do this by recruiting small family-run farms and connecting them with knowledgeable retailers who believe in the same common goals that have become the foundation of the Norpac Family Farmed Beef Program.
Though it has taken many years for Norpac to develop this very unique program, they have always felt that a naturally produced beef product is something that should be made readily available to the general consumer at affordable prices.
Highlights
- Antibiotic free
- No growth hormones
- 100% vegetarian diet
- Locally raised
- Reduced stress
- Consistently tender
- High quality
- Source verified
- Age verified
- Dry chilled
- Lean
- HACCP certified
Ontario Corn Fed Beef
Norwich Packers was the initial and pilot plant for the inception of the Ontario Corn Fed Beef program in 2001. The program—a brainchild of the Ontario Cattle Feeders Association—was developed to market what Ontario farmers felt was a superior product compared to the world beef complex. Even though the program has grown to a substantial size and has been picked up by other processors, Norwich Packers continues to whole-heartedly support and add its Norpac difference to an already successful program. To find out more about this program and its quality advantages please visit Ontario Corn Fed Beef.
Norpac Dry Aged Premium Beef
Dry-aged beef is a high quality beef product that is placed in a special humidity controlled environment to age the beef. This unique aging process changes the beef by two means. The first change that occurs is in regards to the dehydration of the beef. By sitting in a low humidity environment, moisture is dehydrated from the muscle. Drawing the moisture out of the product enables a greater concentration of beef flavour and taste that is unmatched by any other processes. The second change centres on the tenderness aspect. Sitting in this perfect aging environment allows for natural enzymes to work in the meat itself to create a product that is not only very consistent in nature, but also uncompromisingly tender.
Another premium feature of dry aged beef is that we use only the highest quality grades of meat in this process as it requires meat with large, evenly distributed marbling content (AAA or Prime). This higher marbling content allows the enzymes to penetrate the product evenly and create that creamy flavourful taste.
Very few locations have an authentic dry age program like Norpac. Others prefer to do a variation on an authentic dry aged program, preferring to first “wet” age the beef before placing it in their coolers. Most packing plants will also wet chill and acid wash/steam their beef carcasses which conflicts with the definition of a “true” dry age program. By avoiding both of these processes, we truly believe that our system is superior to any other dry aging program currently promoted in Ontario.
Overall this truly unique process creates a product that we believe results in some of the world’s best beef. Once you try this product you will realize just what we, at Norpac, are bragging about. It is a program that we are very excited about and are proud to be sharing this premium product with some of Ontario’s finest steakhouses and retail butcher shops.
The Beef.
Pledge.
Norpac Beef pledges to remain the premier choice for beef product in the province. We treat our customers as we do our family: with honesty and integrity. We pledge to uphold the highest standards in cattle husbandry, procurement and precessing methods while maintaining the unwavering level of safety and quality you have come to expect from Norpac.