Food & Beverage

Pickleman's leans into antibiotic-free pork

Pickleman's uses pork on its Cuban pizza. Provided

July 6, 2023

Pickleman's Gourmet Cafe has added Open Prairie No Antibiotics Ever pulled pork to its menu in six menu items, including the Cuban, BBQ Pork and Smokehouse Stack sandwiches, Pickled Cuban Pizza and two Mac & Cheese bowls, which are coming soon.

"Serving healthier, responsibly-sourced food builds our customers' trust and loyalty in the brand," Doug Stritzel, founder and CEO, said in a company press release. "Real food tastes better and contributes to our sales growth and industry-leading Average Unit Volume."

Pickleman's BBQ Pulled Pork sandwich has become a fan favorite since its initial unveiling in Spring and is made in-house daily with melted provolone cheese, all-natural BBQ sauce, onions and pickles.

"Recognizing Latin America's culinary influence we've created two new items in tribute: Our twist on the Cuban sandwich and the innovative Pickled Cuban Pizza (thin and crispy like all of Pickleman's pies) both with pulled pork. We've also added the Smokehouse Stack sandwich with pulled pork, provolone, bacon and a drizzle of chipotle ranch dressing," Stritzel said in the release.

Going NAE with pork is difficult as the animals must be segregated in a defined herd, eating only a 100% vegetarian diet, according to Michael Pierdon, VMD in Farm Journal's Pork Business section. Still, the pork used at Pickleman's is traceable to the prairie state farm where it was raised and processed in the Midwest.

Why care about reducing antibiotics in food?
At least 2.8 million people in the U.S. develop antimicrobial-resistant infections a year with over 600,000 of those cases directly traceable to food, according to the Center for Disease Control — calling it one of the most urgent public health problems today. Animal welfare is key to suppressing the growth of this problem, according to the 40-year-old organization World Animal Protection: Animals raised with less stress and more space develop natural immunity to disease and thus vastly reduce the need for antibiotics.

"Happier animals produce better tasting, more nutritious pork," Hayley Sohn, Pickleman's head of nutritional research and development said, in the release. "We do it for the animals, your health, and the health of our nation."

The language around the use of antibiotics can be confusing to the public just as the food designations "natural" and "organic" have been fought over in the past. The USDA has launched an effort to tighten up the label terms to eliminate the providers who mislead consumers. According to Consumer Reports, many chains claim items on their menus are "raised without antibiotics," which is a lower level of care and protection than Pickleman's Gourmet Cafe's No Antibiotics Ever, Stritzel said.

"Incorporating Open Prairie NAE pulled pork in our menu is just one way that Pickleman's is serving food from farms, not factories," he said. "Recent FDA reports show that while significant progress has been made in reducing use of antibiotics in poultry, the effort to reduce their use in pork has been at a standstill for years. At Pickleman's Gourmet Cafe we are constantly increasing the quality of our ingredients, with nothing hidden. I believe it's up to us in the industry to start leading and say, 'The status quo is unacceptable and we need to take better care of animals and feed our people real food.'"

Pickleman's, founded in Columbia, Missouri, in 2005, serves sandwiches, soups, salads, pizzas and made-from-scratch cookies.