Sustainability is an increasingly powerful meat and poultry sales trigger.

Just 3 percent of the world’s water is fresh water, and two-thirds of that water is currently inaccessible, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Meat-processing facilities are major users of large amounts of water. Plants may use hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per day to process meat adequately. 

Many meat and poultry producers are finding no good deed goes unpunished. While most operators are working to enhance food safety and improve product quality, their methods often entail an exorbitant consumption of energy and water.