Foster Farms has been selected as the 2016 Processor of the Year by The National Provisioner, a leading meat and poultry trade publication that has been around for 125 years.

Foster Farms earned the award based on its leadership in the organic and antibiotic-free fresh chicken categories; both are categories in which they now rank number one in the West.

 “Foster Farms’ proactive and successful voyage into a position of true industry leadership over the past two years has made it stand above all others for this prestigious honor,” said The National Provisioner Editor-in-Chief Andy Hanacek

This award is high praise for the company as they have worked to improve their product line and expand to a national scale.

“This award really captures what we’ve been doing very well for the past few years, highlighting our overall growth towards the future,” said Ira Brill, director of communications for Foster Farms. “We are committed to continuing to provide the safest product on the market.”

Foster Farms has slowly grown from a small regional distributor to a company that prepares product on a more national scale. Their ascent to becoming one of the top industries on the market today is thanks in large part to their record for food safety.

“The mandated government permitted salmonella prevalence level is currently 15.7 percent. Our Foster Farms chicken maintains the same salmonella prevalence level at about 5 percent, ” Brill said.

Foster Farms’ successes directly reflect back to the community here in and around the Central Valley.

“This award really means a lot to the Central Valley as we employ several thousands of local employees,” said Brill. “We never could’ve won this award without all of them, it says a great deal about the positive impact of this company in the Central Valley.”

Foster Farms looks to continue on this track of success by including things like innovation in new products and consistent expansion nationally.

“In terms of moving forward, this award encapsulates the company moving forward (…) it signifies that Foster Farms is back in a major way and will continue to be a supplier of choice,” said Brill.