GNP Co., the Midwest’s leading chicken producer of the Gold’n Plump and Just BARE chicken brands, earned the poultry industry’s highest environmental honor—the 2013 Clean Water Award from the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association. Winning in the full-treatment category, the award recognizes GNP Co.’s outstanding water treatment facilities and was announced at the association’s Environmental Management Conference on March 12, 2013.
Clean, safe and energy-efficient water treatment has been one of the company’s main areas of focus over the last several years. In July 2011, GNP Co. expanded and upgraded its existing water treatment facility at its Cold Spring, Minn., production plant. It now uses membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology, a state-of-the-art process that saves energy, resources and water. The Clean Water Award committee of the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association noted that GNP Co. is the only poultry company using the MBR technology and is also known to be the largest MBR system in the state of Minnesota. GNP Co.’s facility also uses the most energy efficient air blower system possible for additional environmental and economic preservation.