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Real Ingredients.
Real Responsibility.

Social Responsibility

  • Our Community Commitment
    Our Community Commitment
    Constantly striving to be a good neighbor, IDF™ supports communities of corporate and plant operations financially and through event engagement. The shareholders of IDF support local communities through the Darr Family Foundation. Our mission and values are largely driven by the vision of IDF founder, William (Bill) H. Darr and his commitment to community betterment, including philanthropy and environmentally and ethically responsible business practices.
  • Environmentally Conscious
    Environmentally Conscious
    IDF’s heat recovery systems allow the facility to reduce its natural gas usage by approximately 20% a year and reduce carbon and other emissions compared to alternate sources of energy. In addition, the electricity usage per pound of product has been reduced through the use of variable frequency drives, which increase energy efficiency.
  • Wastewater Treatment
    Wastewater Treatment
    IDF takes great care in upgrading our wastewater treatment facility. IDF’s state-of-the-art electrocoagulation unit uses electricity to clean wastewater instead of using chemicals to do so. This allows the wastewater solids to be used throughout the state as a natural fertilizer, contributing to the proper agricultural adjustments to local farmers’ land and positively impacting the environment.

sedex-member-ingredients-company-3

There is absolutely no substitute for the best. Good food cannot be made of inferior ingredients masked with high flavor. It is true thrift to use the best ingredients available and to waste nothing.
—James Beard, Acclaimed chef, food writer, and culinary personality. Dubbed “Dean of American cookery” by the New York Times in 1954

IDF’s uniquely gentle process “wastes not” food, not flavor, not protein.

girl-grandma-turkey Taking up the mantra of generations before us, we’re committed to “waste not, want not,” as demonstrated in both our process and products. Delicately bringing the inherent goodness of chicken into our core ingredients — IDF® chicken broth, chicken fat, and chicken powder — our uniquely gentle process “wastes not” food, not flavor, not protein.

As we draw ingredients from chicken, we also draw inspiration, finding a purpose for every component and crafting each ingredient for quality. Some look at chicken and see fillets, others see drumsticks; at IDF®, we see an abundance of goodness: foundational flavor, quality nutrition, and complete protein.

With vision and a commitment to naturally wholesome ingredients, we dedicate our time, patience, and craftsmanship, developing foundational poultry ingredients that enable food manufacturers and foodservice operators to bring chicken’s inherent goodness to a variety of applications. Embodying the same quality, care, and resourcefulness that has defined home cooking for generations, IDF® ingredients will continue to epitomize the mindfulness with which food will be crafted and consumed for generations to come.

IDF Sustainable Manufacturing Measures

Energy Efficiency

Heat-recovery units on dryers

  • Allow the plant to burn about 70,000MCF less a year in natural gas, reducing usage by 20%

Dryers use natural gas

  • Burns cleaner than all other fuels
  • Reduces carbon monoxide emissions 70-90%
  • Reduces carbon dioxide emissions 20-30%
  • Reduces nitrogen oxide emissions 75-85% (less smog and soot)
  • Potentially reduces non-methane hydrocarbon emissions 50-75%
  • Emits fewer toxic and carcinogenic pollutants
  • Emits little or no particulate matter
  • Eliminates evaporative emissions

Majority of motors use variable frequency drives

  • More efficient operation
  • Per-pound electricity reduction

Lighting switched to LED

  • Burns cooler and uses less energy
  • 3- to 6-year payback

Capacitor banks added

  • Corrects power for the electricity servicing the plants
  • 3- to 8-year payback

Water Efficiency

Upgraded wastewater treatment facility (WWT)

State-of-the-art electro-coagulation unit (ECO):

  • System uses electricity to cleanup the waste water instead of chemicals
  • Allows WWT solids to be permitted and land applied throughout the state under a fertilizer permit
  • WWT could not be permitted if chemicals were used
  • Natural fertilizer allows for proper agricultural adjustments to local farmers
  • Allows wastewater to be redistributed into plant for non-potable uses
  • Enables plant to reuse about 65% of its water

Biological Wastewater Pre-Treatment Plant

  • Enables plant to meet all required discharge permit limits set forth by the city and state
  • Minimizes costs and solids loading to the municipalities from which the plant purchases water
  • Allows IDF® to be a better partner in the community and environment

Material Efficiency

Yield improvements

  • Minimize waste of raw material
  • Maximize profits by turning more raw material into useable/sellable goods

Operations located near raw-material sources

  • Reduces freight costs

Waste Reduction/Recycling

Consumable products, cardboard, plastic, etc. are recycled to reduce waste

2014 total recycle poundage was 9,536 lbs. which is 4.8 Tons of paper. Amounts saved equivalent to:

  • 81 trees
  • 10 barrels of oil
  • 33,377 gallons of water
  • 14 cubic yards of landfill

IDF® has been recycling corrugated containers for more than 22 years – about 50% of corrugated products, or 24 tons per week.

Responsible Sourcing

SEDEX

  • Global responsible-sourcing guidelines