With a Vow to Talk Straight About Animal Fats, Coast Packing Company Rolls Out New Website/Resource Center

Ninety-Three Year-Old Company Affirms Commitment to Market and Consumer Education

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Sep 16, 2015, 06:06 ET

VERNON, Calif., Sept. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The zeitgeist has turned.

Food Network personality/baker extraordinaire Duff Goldman was recently seen wearing a "Praise the Lard" t-shirt. In a column earlier this year, New York Times contributor Marc Bittman proclaimed that "butter is back." Lard and beef tallow are showing up on menus of some very tony restaurants coast to coast. Michael Pollan, interviewed on NPR last year, said this: "We [have] demonized saturated fats. These are the fats found in animal products like milk and beef. And we went overboard, really, in demonizing those fats beginning in the '70s with the low-fat campaign…"

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Coast Packing Company, a leading supplier of animal fat shortenings throughout the Western U.S., couldn't agree more. With the rollout of an informative new website (www.coastpacking.com), the 93-year-old company is now doing its part to spread the word.

The site showcases Coast Packing's full line of shortenings, along with vivid images of culinary outcomes – pies, cakes, fried chicken, onion rings, Hispanic specialties, and more. Complementing comprehensive product information on such popular Coast brands as VIVA® Lard and Flavor King Blue® Beef Tallow, the website anchors what Coast CEO Eric R. Gustafson promises will be "an active and engaging social media presence, with content and commentary for the food service industry and consumers alike." Highlights include:

News Morsels – Bite-size snippets from the world of food, cooking and health
Health – Insights from experts in science and nutrition
Dining Out – Can't miss places – and can't miss dishes
Chewing the Fat – Breaking bread (and more) with Eric Gustafson
Cooking Tips - Creative ways to transform the kitchen experience
Ethnic Food – The best in cuisine from around the world

Aimed at members of the news media and food bloggers generally, the Coast Packing website press room features "Our p.o.v. - Coast commentary on today's trends" and "FastFatFacts – Info you need to better understand the food you eat."

"We have begun to engage with leading players on the food scene, creating a conversation about what the industry -- and consumers -- needs to know about the food we eat," Gustafson said. "We're reaching out to like-minded thought leaders to help us shine a light on what remains a little understood but vital component of everyone's diet – and, not so incidentally, is what helps make food fabulous.

"We want to talk frankly about the importance of fat for both taste and for health," he noted. "Capitalizing on today's compelling food culture, we'll discuss the use of animal fats in the kitchen – at restaurants and at home – and about favorite recipes using lard and beef tallow. We'll explore why and how professionals and home cooks use animal fats to produce amazing meals, and what everyone needs to know about dispelling animal fat myths and misconceptions."

For more information about Coast Packing Company, visit: www.coastpacking.com and follow us via social media on Facebook at www.facebook.com/coastpackingco, Twitter @coastpackingco and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/coastpackingco.

About Coast Packing Company
Coast Packing Company (www.coastpacking.com), a closely held corporation, is the number one supplier of animal fat shortenings – particularly lard and beef tallow -- in the Western United States. The company sells to major manufacturers, distributors, retailers, smaller food service operations, leading bakeries and lesser concerns. The company participates actively in various ethnic markets – from Hispanic retail chains, with its VIVA brand, to various Asian specialty markets. Based in Vernon, Calif., Coast Packing Company is regional, national and, increasingly, global. Markets extend from Southern California to Washington State, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and Utah. Internationally, Coast is active in Mexico, and as the market allows, the company ships to Asia. The company sources raw materials from major meat packing plants across the United States – California, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Utah and Texas. In some cases, supplier relationships are multigenerational, extending back 50 years and more.