Belcampo, the Oakland-based organic meat purveyor and restaurant that built its reputation on transparency, has admitted one of its Southern California locations sold beef and chicken that do not meet its standards.

CEO and co-founder Anya Fernald said steps have been taken to halt the practice and re-confirm sourcing policies. She said the issues affected only the Santa Monica restaurant/market.

Her announcement came in response to an Instagram posting from a butcher who worked at that location for more than two years.

“The meat @belcampomeatco is not local anymore. It is not organic. It is not grass-fed,” he said as the camera panned an array of what appeared to be non-Belcampo meats from Minnesota and Tasmania. “They are lying to your face and charging $47.99/lb. for filet that is either USDA choice and corn-fed or from a foreign country. They do not care about your health. They care about money.”

The $47.99 filet that was marketed as grass-fed was corn-fed and purchased for a little over $10 a pound, he said.

“For those of you with allergies and health conditions revolving around corn and soy — please buy elsewhere, for your own health (and money),” said the butcher, who was identified by InsideHook as Evan Reiner.

Since 2012, Belcampo has told consumers that all of the meat and poultry it sells is raised on the company’s farm near Mount Shasta and butchered in Belcampo facilities. The company operates five restaurants and meat markets in California.

In her taped response to customers, Fernald called the butcher’s video “heartbreaking for me.”

“I deeply apologize for the mislabeling and poor sourcing in our Belcampo Santa Monica location that I learned about from a video posted by our former employee,” she said, adding that she had devoted the last decade to building customer trust and making hard choices.

In a written statement on Belcampo.com, the company stated that “our butcher shop locations have a small degree of autonomy when it comes to sourcing meats for their local customer base or when there are supply shortages on certain items. The same high standards used for our own production should be adhered to when sourcing third party products. Based on our investigation there were multiple failures in adherence to these standards at the Santa Monica location.”

Those standards, Belcampo’s marketing materials say, include “certified humane, low-stress environments” for animals and “regenerative farming methods.”

The company response goes on to say that this failure affected a “small percentage” of items at this location, with the most commonly mislabeled foods being “grass-fed and finished beef tenderloins and organic boneless, skinless chicken breasts.”

Fernald stressed that Belcampo’s mail-order and grocery supplies were not affected, noting that there is “regulatory oversight” of those products that ensures proper labeling.

The butcher, Reiner, apologized for deceiving customers, explaining that he stayed at Belcampo because he needed the health insurance coverage.

The company’s online statement said consumers with further questions should address them to response@belcampo.com.