FAQ

Is the meat fresh or frozen?

We organize slaughter on a regular basis to ensure the freshness of our products. Instead of slaughtering once a year with en-mass freezing, we slaughter multiple times a month, vacum pack and flash freeze and deliver our newest products to you. This ensures the best quality and flavor and is much fresher than most frozen meat you find in a store.

Is Artzenu meat "organic"?

Our chicken and turkey products are certified as free range and organic. Our beef, lamb, goat, and duck are better than organic! Certification doesn't always mean everything you want it to mean; for example, USDA organic standards allow animals to be raised in near total confinement and fed nothing but organic corn and still are called “organic." Those practices are unacceptable to us - we want the animals to be outside and enjoy life in their natural setting. Our animals are all raised outdoors on pasture, with plenty of room to move around, forage and otherwise express their natural tendencies.

Do I need to cook pastured meat any differently?

In general, you can follow your favorite recipes for all our products. Since our pastured meats have so much flavor, you may find yourself grilling a steak or roasting a chicken with nothing but salt, pepper and olive oil so you can really enjoy the taste of the meat itself -- no complicated sauces needed.

Why are your cattle fed grain?

Living in the Middle East, we don’t live in a climate that has fresh green grass available to animals all year. Therefore, including some grain in our cattle's diet helps us deliver a more affordable, tender, delicious and consistent product. The animals NEVER receive growth hormones or routine doses of preventative antibiotics. Our finishing yards are clean, spacious and animals are healthy and well-cared for. Their 100% vegetarian diet (no animal by-products) consists of a balance of hay, grass and grain. Although it's the topic of much press and conversation, feeding grain to cattle is not always a bad thing. Feeding cattle only grain makes them sick, which is the practice on large feedlots. We abhor the practices of these large feedlots, where overcrowded, malnourished cattle are routinely fed antibiotics to help them put on weight for slaughter as quickly as possible. However, cattle naturally eat grain in their diets (grass seeds are grains), and people have been feeding animals limited amounts of grain for millennia to produce flavorful, well-marbled meat (see Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking, p. 135). In contrast to feedlot beef, our animals are healthy as evidenced by our extremely high kosher rates and extremely low incidence of illness. We examine every animal before slaughter, and again after slaughter (checking innards) and attest that our animals are healthy and do not suffer from the grain (in fact, they eat it eagerly!).

Is the feed GMO-free?

While the arguments for and against GMOs are complex, we do encourage our farmers to use GMO-free feed where possible. Note that in all cases grain feed is a supplement to the diet of pasture grasses available to the animals. When we assure you that our meat is produced according to the strictest standards of kashrut, animal welfare, worker treatment, and sustainable agriculture, we do mean just that: we are taking many aspects of meat productions into consideration to produce the best kosher meat on the market. We have spent considerable time and effort exploring the field (including working on small farms, in butcher shops, and slaughterhouses across the country), and we haven't yet been able to find beef produced with GMO-free grain that also meets our other standards, including feed being grown nearby, being able to slaughter the animals in facilities near to where they are raised, supporting small farms and production facilities with good working conditions, while producing high quality delicious meat under rigorous kashrut supervision. These aspects are all critical to us in piecing together the puzzle of kosher sustainable agriculture today. If avoiding GMOs is of critical importance to you, we hope you'll check out our Organic and Free Range poultry where the feed is fully GMO free.

Do you sell eggs or dairy?

We do hope to carry organic eggs in the near future. We do not currently work in the dairy industry. It is not practical for us to ship or deliver at this time, but we suggest that you talk to a vendor at your local farmer's market or search on Nourishing Israel for a nearby source.

Are all meats kosher for Passover?

All of our chicken and ducks are kosher for Passover year-round with no additional markings on the package. After we kasher our production center for Pesach, packages are marked with a Kosher for Pesach stamp.

My vacuum package arrived with a small puncture. Is the meat still good?

Sometimes sharp bones or routine handling during processing will cause punctures in the packaging. However, your meat is still completely safe to eat; we recommend defrosting it over a plate or bowl to avoid leakage.

What are my delivery options?

We deliver to most parts of the country (in Israel) on a weekly basis. Our online store will show you the delivery times and options available to you, based on your address. If you dont see your area listed with a delivery option, please contact us so we can discuss delivery options with you: orders@artzenu.co.il or call 053-301-9977

Can I modify my order after it is placed?

You can make changes to your order via our online store. If we have not already begun preparing your order for delivery, we will do our best to accommodate your requests. You will not be able to change your order once we have started processing your order.

Why does my order weigh more or less than the estimate given on the website?

Being that every animal and therefore every cut is a different size sometimes you will receive a bit more than the listed weight, and sometimes a bit less. Our customers find that on average they receive what they are expecting. But if you find that your actual weights in an order vary greatly from what you were expecting, please snap a picture of the weight labels and send it over to us, and we'll be happy to make things right.

Can I get credit when I refer my friends?

Yes! We love it when our customers tell their friends. We offer a “refer a friend” special where both you and your friend get free delivery when they place their first order. Tell your friends to mention your name in the notes of their first order and we will automatically apply the discount. Thank you in advance for spreading the word!