The McLean Meats difference!
In a world with many unhealthy food choices, McLean Meats strives to offer shoppers a wide selection of preservative-free foods that taste great.
All our recipes are based on the principle of using only lean cuts of meat, sea salt and a touch of spice. We also avoid food allergens in hopes that people with food sensitivities can also enjoy our products.
Our goal is to sell food that everyone can enjoy and feel good about. We’re proud to be the only deli meat company in Canada whose entire product line is 100 per cent preservative-free, nitrite-free and celery extract-free, and one day we hope every product we make will be 100% certified organic.
Try our all beef hotdog or turkey hotdog!
NITRITE FREE
PRESERVATIVE FREE
At McLean, we embrace food with gratitude.
OUR MISSION
Our Mission is to produce great tasting clean and lean food products that everyone can enjoy and feel good about, while also supporting natural, humane and sustainable farming.
WHY WE DO IT
The McLean Meats story goes back more than 25 years, when company founder Garth McLean of Miramichi, New Brunswick, began his career in the meat industry as a truck driver delivering sides of pork.
As Garth worked his way up into sales, he became personally involved in every aspect of the commercial meat industry. Dismayed with all the chemicals and preservatives found in food, especially in deli meats, he developed his own line of nitrite-free deli meat. It was something unavailable in Canada – and more importantly, it was also something he felt was missing from his own family’s plate.
The line of products he launched in the late 1990s at Capers Community Markets in Vancouver (now called Wholefoods Markets) was an immediate success and his line of great tasting meat products soon expanded from three products, to eight.
In 2003, Garth partnered with Albertan Michelle Neilson, the firm’s vice-president and COO, and together they rebranded the company in 2004 as McLean Meats, based on the words “clean” and “lean” found in Garth’s last name.
AND THE REST IS HISTORY
Between 2005 and 2009, we expanded our product line to more than 15 products and received organic certification for select items. The following year, we added Woodstown Farms’ select line of preservative-free deli meats to our family of brands and expanded distribution across Canada from coast to coast. Along the way, everything we’ve done and every aspect of our business has been tied to a clear mission and set of core values, which for us, revolves around clean food and natural farming.”
Today, Garth’s son Justin and his nephew Wally are part of the driving force behind McLean Meats, making us a truly family-operated company.
Today, McLean Meats offers more than 35 products in over 600 stores across Canada. We’re proud to have realized Garth’s dream of one day selling his McLean Meats brand products in his hometown of Miramichi.
But most of all, we’re proud to be the only deli meat company in Canada whose entire product line is 100 per cent preservative-free, nitrite-free and celery extract free.