Company Profile
Northern Goose Processors first opened in 1976, processing and distributing hundreds of thousands of geese globally until 2008 when production ceased. The plant was sold to a Canadian family ownership group in 2013, and continues to be a privately owned and operated company. Upon finalization of the sale, owner and President Bryan Pryde, saw the potential to rebuild this now empty, quiet building, into the busy and productive facility that it could be. The ownership group invested heavily to strip down and rebuild Northern Goose into a state of the art facility, transforming and modernizing the plant and equipment to streamline processes and ensure compliance with modern food safety standards.
In 2017, Northern Goose celebrated its Grand Reopening! The plant operated as a provincially inspected facility, while building a team to develop and implement a HACCP Plan and Food Safety and Quality Management Systems. The Northern Goose team successfully achieved federal licensing requirements in 2018. Northern Goose is the only known federally inspected facility in North America specializing in the production of Chinese Geese (Anser cygnoides), also known as the White Chinese Swan Goose.
Northern Goose supplies to restaurant and hospitality distributors, grocery and retail outlets across Canada and around the globe.
Birds are procured directly from local goose farmers, and all birds are raised naturally outdoors and grain fed, both from manual and natural grazing sources.
Northern Goose also procures and processes down and feather by-products of the food production, creating a minimal waste environment. All other by-products are either rendered or naturally disposed through the local waste treatment lagoon, resulting in a low-impact and environmentally conscious process.
Since its inception, Northern Goose Processors has maintained a policy of honesty, integrity and responsible treatment of animals, always focusing on the importance of selling a high-quality but humane and compassionately sourced product. We pride ourselves on our strong code of ethics, and we hold our company, associates and products to the highest standard.
Bryan Pryde, the President & CEO of Northern Goose, is also President & CEO of Feather Industries (Canada) Limited, as well as President of the Down Association of Canada (Downmark), of which Feather Industries is a founding member. Downmark is a non-profit organization with a mandate to educate the public about down and feather products, as well as requires its membership to procure down and feathers from Humane Sources. Downmark also monitors the marketplace, to ensure down and feather products and advertising adhere to Federal and Provincial government regulations.
For more information on Feather Industries, please visit their website – www.featherind.com
For more information on the Down Association of Canada, please visit their website –www.downmark.com
Northern Goose is also committed to maintaining a strong sense of corporate social responsibility. We have researched and developed methods to make our processing more efficient and eco-friendly, specifically when treating wastewater effluent during the processing cycle, which reduces the impact on the wastewater lagoon. Furthermore, all detergents used in cleaning are approved by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for use in food processing. All of the products used to treat the feather and down by-products are gentle detergents to extract grease and dirt and are biodegradable, as are all of the by-products produced in the processing of our down and feathers. Regardless, Northern Goose has a policy to continually look for more ways and better methods to reduce waste in all aspects of the process.
Northern Goose Processors is proud to be a strong advocate for the fair and humane treatment of animals. All of the raising and processing of geese is operated under strict control of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), which absolutely forbids any form of animal abuse. All stages of production at Northern Goose are conducted with CFIA staff on site which includes both veterinarians and inspectors. Further to this, Northern Goose does not engage in the practice of any religious or ritualized processing at any time.
All feather and down products are harvested following government regulations which means no live plucking. As mentioned, all our feathers and down procured are a by-product of the processing. Several times each year, senior staff personally visit our approved supply vendors (farms) to ensure our business partners follow an agreed upon ethical code of conduct.
