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Belcampo

Belcampo Meat Co. was an American food company founded in 2012, and situated at Mount Shasta, California. It was a farm to a door butcher shop that included its own farm, slaughterhouse and restaurants.^[1][2] although later it expanded sourcing to other farms.

Belcampo was led by its co-founder Anya Fernald from 2012 to 2020, and with Garry Embleton as co-CEO from 2020 until January 2021 when Embleton became the sole CEO. The company struggled during the Covid-19 pandemic as various locations were closed.^[3] The company had a major issue in 2021 when an employee exposed poorly sourced products.^[4] In late 2021, the company was shut down by the board.^[5]

The company operated a 20,000 square foot, USDA-approved multi-species slaughter facility designed by animal welfare expert Temple Grandin, and a nearby 27,000-acre (11,000 ha) farm, and opened its first store in Marin County in 2012.^[6][7] It expanded to also include butcher shops and restaurants in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, San Francisco, San Mateo, Oakland, and New York, and also sold meat through Erewhon Grocery Stores.^[6]

The USDA had begun investigations into Belcampo for various violations, including sanitation, safety, and labeling at their Siskiyou County plant.^[8] Inspections revealed poor hygiene, mislabeled meat, and operational failures.

In May 2021, a former employee Evan Reiner alleged that it had fraudulently labeled cuts of meat as produced by Belcampo when they had been sourced from other producers.^[9]

Belcampo was the first meat company in the United States to comprehensively audit its carbon sequestration.^[10]