has arrived in 91原创.

The start-up鈥檚 co-founder, Victor Straatman, was struggling to find a local, ethical, source of meat to feed his family when he immigrated from the Netherlands almost two years ago.

In his attempt to find and eat better meat, Meatme.ca was born.

His solution combines, according to the company, 鈥渢he simplicity of digital technology with the care and tradition of local farmers and ranchers to provide the best meat possible to a value-driven customer base.鈥�

By crowd-sharing individual animals on Meatme.ca from exclusive farmers and ranchers, customers can directly trace their food from farm to plate.

On the meatme.ca website, people buy 鈥渟hares鈥� of a whole cow and share the meat with around 40 other 鈥榮teakholders鈥�.

In doing so, Meatme customers are eliminating distributors and by-passing factory farms and helping to grow community-based food systems.

鈥淲e鈥檙e looking to help people connect with their food. To understand where it鈥檚 coming from, who鈥檚 growing it, what standards it鈥檚 being held to. All the good stuff,鈥� says chef Trevor Bird, Meatme co-founder and Top Chef Canada鈥檚 Allstar finalist.

The animals from Meatme farms and ranches are free ranged on natural pasture.

Animals are not given antibiotics, hormones or chemical feed additives. Meatme notes that it only partners with farmers who have animal health and welfare as a top priority.

In addition, buying from local farms reduces the need for lengthy transportation resulting in fewer carbon emissions.

Local farms partnering with Meatme include in Aldergrove, where 70 pigs eat and wonder freely around the land, and , a family-owned, farm-to-table poultry and hog farm situated in South 91原创.

Under the Meatme.ca platform, unlike traditional meat production, no parts of the animals go to waste. Whether it鈥檚 Berkshire pork, grass fed Angus beef, pasture raised lambs or free range chickens, each part of each animal is shared between all the customer, the company notes.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to eat meat, you need to be a conscious meat eater,鈥� says Kendall Ballantine of South 91原创鈥檚 Central Park Farms. 鈥淭ake the time to learn where your food is coming from and how it鈥檚 being raised. We take pride in transparency and that is why we are proud to work with Meatme. They met us, saw how we raised our meat, and they help people who don鈥檛 necessarily have the access to a farm or farmer鈥檚 markets.鈥�

Following consumer demand, Meatme.ca recently announced free shipping on purchases over $185 direct to households across B.C.

鈥淲e can now offer the best quality meats from local family farms to 91原创 and rest of B.C. and this is just the beginning.鈥� says Meatme co-founder Victor Straatman.

Meatme was recently nominated for Foodie of the Year 2017 by Western Living Magazine, and will be featured on CBC鈥檚 Dragon鈥檚 Den in the fall of this year.