ReadyWise
Salt Lake City — long-term stored food sold on a 25-year number that the company states as a claim and never publishes a test method for.
Augason Farms
Salt Lake City, 1972 — a stored-food brand of Blue Chip Group that names its inspecting agencies, its certification scheme, and the products its shelf-life claim does not cover.
Augason Farms is the emergency-food brand of Blue Chip Group in Salt Lake City, and it dates itself to 1972, when Phil Augason introduced Morning Moo's powdered milk. It manufactures in its own facility rather than buying finished goods, and — unusually for this category — it names the agencies that inspect that facility and the food-safety scheme it certifies to. It also publishes the exceptions to its own shelf-life claim, which is the single most useful thing a stored-food company can do.
- 1972The year Phil Augason introduced Morning Moo's, per the company's own about page
- 150,000 sq ftThe Blue Chip Group manufacturing facility in Salt Lake City, per its about page
- 20–30 yrsThe company's own shelf-life claim for most products — about 10 years for eggs and oil, about 5 for granola
What we'd reach for
- Morning Moo's Milk AlternativeThe product the company dates itself to. Fifty-odd years of a single formulation is its own kind of evidence about a food business.
- Variety and long-term kitsMulti-category packages sold by serving count. The shelf-life exceptions matter most here — a kit containing eggs or oil is not a 30-year kit.
- #10 cans and pailsSingle-ingredient staples in bulk format. The easiest products to match against the company's stated storage band, because there is one thing in the can.
The stored-food aisle runs on one number and very little paperwork. Augason Farms is the brand in this batch that publishes more than the number — and, more usefully, publishes where the number stops applying.
What the company states
Augason Farms’ FAQ says its facility is “registered with and inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture,” and names the Food and Drug Administration and the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food alongside it. It states that the company holds certification under the Safe Quality Food (SQF) program, which sits under the Global Food Safety Initiative, and that select products are certified gluten-free by the Gluten-Free Certification Organization, a program of the Gluten Intolerance Group.
Those are the company’s own statements, and this page reproduces them as such — no certificate numbers were retrieved, so none are printed. But the shape of the claim is the right shape: named agencies, a named scheme, a named certifier. Most of this category offers a badge and a vibe.
The shelf-life claim, with its exceptions
The same FAQ gives the storage condition first — “Keep food in a cool, dry place between 55°F and 70°F. Avoid heat and moisture” — and then the figures: most products 20 to 30 years, products containing eggs or oil about 10 years, and granola about 5 years.
That second and third figure are the reason this page rates the company. Fats go rancid; a company selling a 30-year headline has every commercial reason not to mention that its egg products and its granola are on a different clock, and Augason mentions it anyway. Compare that with ReadyWise, whose published claim is a single “up to 25 years, depending on storage conditions and product type” with no per-category breakdown.
None of this makes the numbers independently verified. They are the manufacturer’s claims about its own products, arrived at by a method the company does not publish. That caveat applies here exactly as it does everywhere else in the category.
Who Augason Farms is
The about page dates the business to 1972: “Since Phil Augason introduced Morning Moo’s in 1972, the family business has crafted and refined hundreds of shelf-stable food and water products for emergencies and challenging times.” It states that “ingredient procurement, taste-tested formulas, and end-to-end manufacturing all happen in our state-of-the-art facility,” and describes a second arm, Blue Chip Provisions, doing co-packing and private label work for other companies.
The parent is Blue Chip Group, whose about page gives 1911 South 3850 West, Salt Lake City, Utah, a “150,000 square foot facility,” the same 1972 date, and describes the business as “now into its 2nd generation of family ownership.”
A company that also co-packs for others is a company whose facility has to satisfy other people’s auditors. That is a quiet argument in its favor.
Where they fall down
Certifications without numbers. SQF certification and agency registration are stated but not evidenced with a certificate or registration number. A single public certificate would settle it.
Manufacturing origin is not ingredient origin. End-to-end manufacturing in Salt Lake City says nothing about where the wheat, milk powder or fruit came from, and no ingredient-origin claim is published.
No published shelf-life method. The per-category figures are better than the competition’s single number, but the testing behind them is still unpublished.
Leadership is unclear. Company pages disagree on who currently holds which title, so this page names none.
Serving counts flatter kits. As everywhere in stored food, a “serving” is a marketing unit. The nutrition panel on each product is the only comparable figure.
Where Augason Farms fits
Households building depth cheaply. Bulk staples in #10 cans, at a price that makes a real pantry possible.
Buyers who read exceptions. If the egg and oil products are on a ten-year clock, they need a rotation date written on the lid.
Stored in the stated band. 55–70°F is the condition attached to the claim, and a hot garage is outside it.
Not for: anyone who needs certificate numbers, audit reports or documented test protocols before storing food. Read this page against ReadyWise and buy from whichever company is willing to tell you more.
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