How can you claim USDA certified?Updated 3 months ago

The first step for USDA certification starts with both federal and state permits that allow for the legal harvest of an exotic (invasive), non-amenable species on private land in Hawaiʻi.

The second step for certification is the actual inspection process, which requires a USDA inspector to be present for the entire harvest process, or ante-mortem, where their primary responsibility is to ensure the animal is in good health prior to harvest and then humanely harvested following strict USDA guidelines.

The third step to certification, called post mortem inspection, requires a USDA veterinarian to double check that every deer was healthy and harvested humanely. They also thoroughly inspect the animal's organs and other internal health markers (like lymph nodes) to ensure the meat is safe for human consumption.

Only after these three steps have been completed can we then stamp the whole carcass as USDA certified. Doing all of this at night, without penning, baiting or interacting with the deer in any way prior to harvest, is what makes our process so unique, humane and ultimately expensive.

We then work with only USDA certified processing plants to take our whole-carcass Axis deer and break them down into the amazing food you see in our fresh, and snack products.