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Green Eats: Southern Foods works to improve environmental footprint

Chances are good that you've eaten meat at a local restaurant or hotel that was cut and distributed by Southern Foods, a Greensboro-based company that has served the area since 1954. The company stocks over 6,000 products at its headquarters and sells everything from Certified Angus Beef and wild game to artisan cheeses, hors d'oeuvres and vegetable trays to upscale restaurants, country clubs, resorts, hotels, grocery stores, caterers, and households in the Southeast. 

For years the company offered all-natural, organic and locally produced food products, and it has been a member of Goodness Grows in North Carolina since 2003. Many of its meat products are raised without hormones and antibiotics, said Sue James, vice president of administration.

"People are tired of the big companies of the world buying up all this beef with steroids in it," she said. "People don't want that anymore."

This year, the company took steps to go green and lower its carbon footprint. Southern Foods hired Verus Carbon Neutral, a firm third-party verified by the Chicago Climate Exchange, to conduct a footprint audit and provide offsets for Southern Foods' electricity and natural gas use. Those offsets support a 60,000 acre forest in Georgia, which helps sequester carbon dioxide, prevent erosion and accommodate wildlife.

This year the 207-employee company also: 

* hired Green Day Waste & Recycling to handle its waste and stepped up its paper recycling efforts;

* started using a 20 percent biodiesel blend in its truck fleet. Southern Foods makes about 2,000 deliveries every week and Verus estimates the fuel change will avoid the release of 2,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually;

* Sends its meat bones and fat to other facilities, including Carolina By-Products, for recycling;

* Switched indoor lights to compact fluorescents;

* Started using all-natural biodegradable cleaning products;

* Stocked Vegware, corn-based cutlery, drink cups and plates, for purchase by other companies, and uses biodegradable plates, cups and utensils for employee use (note: these products need to be composted to realize the environmental benefit);

* Started using a biodegradable nylon film to wrap meat products; and

* Started sending old electronics to Goodwill for recycling.

Southern Foods also plans to have an energy audit completed by Duke Energy to see how it can save electricity, James said.