Mid-States Specialty Eggs was founded in 2008 in order "to produce a healthy product for the consumer in a way that supports our family farms." After seeing the way the poultry industry was moving, the previous turkey farmers – decided that it was time for a more humane approach. "We've always been health-conscious, but poultry integrators began requiring us to give excessive amounts of antibiotics continuously to the birds we were raising for them. We knew there were better ways. When it finally got to the point where we didn't want to eat those very same turkeys we were raising, we knew we had to look for something else," Hostetler explained. Doing things the right way has been a cornerstone of MSSE since the beginning.