Hot Dogs and Burgers That Do Good

Last fall, Applegate unveiled its first item in a product line built around regenerative sourcing—The DO GOOD DOG™ hot dog. It was the first nationally available hot dog made with beef raised on verified regenerative U.S. grasslands* and the company’s latest evolution of the humble hot dog. Now, Applegate is excited to add another updated version of an American classic to its DO GOOD^™ product line— The DO GOOD BURGER™ beef burger.

Beef for the DO GOOD DOG™ hot dog and DO GOOD BURGER™ beef burger comes from SunFed Ranch in Northern California and boasts the Savory Institute’s Land to Market Seal. According to the Savory Institute, the cattle that supply the beef for these products are part of a system that has the potential to contribute to the regeneration of up to 260,000 acres of U.S. grasslands, making it one of the largest verified systems for regeneratively sourced beef. 

These two products are the firsts of many regeneratively sourced products by Applegate to come. For its DO GOOD^™ product line, Applegate decided to start with beef, where the evidence of positive animal impact is most clear, but the company is also at work to develop evidence-based regenerative practices for non-grazing animals and aims to grow its regeneratively sourced product line to pork and poultry. 

Applegate is hopeful that its size and experience scaling specialized supply chains in the meat category will help make regenerative agriculture familiar and accessible in the mass market. With two out of three U.S. adults saying they eat meat frequently,1 and cattle consistently spotlighted for their negative impact on the environment, there’s a need to shift the way meat is produced to both meet demand and improve the planet. 

 “Years ago, the critics said we couldn’t raise livestock without relying on antibiotics, and Applegate led the way to building a multi-billion dollar market for meat produced without antibiotics,” said Joe O’Connor, president of Applegate. “Now the argument is that in order to fight climate change we need to eliminate meat, and Applegate is here to say, no—there’s a better way and that’s regenerative agriculture.”

Applegate’s commitment to support and market regeneratively sourced beef has helped SunFed Ranch double its grass-fed cattle production, diverting cattle out of the commodity feedlot system and accelerating environmental benefits to its ranchlands. SunFed Ranch, which manages more than 1.5 million acres of U.S. grasslands both directly and through its ranching partners, is committed, across all on-ranch operations, to being 100% carbon neutral, from production to product, by 2024 and fully carbon negative by the end of 2027.

If food that regenerates the land^* sounds good and feels good to you, look for the DO GOOD^™ products online or in-store at select retailers near you.

1DeKoster, J. M. C. and S. (2021, August 20). Nearly one in four in U.S. have cut back on eating meat. Gallup.com. Retrieved September 29, 2021, from https://news.gallup.com/poll/282779/nearly-one-four-cut-back-eating-meat.aspx