You can set NODE_ENV as normal and then run forever:
NODE_ENV=production forever [flags] start app.js [app_flags]
The initial NODE_ENV will be preserved when the server restarts – behaviour that was fixed in this issue:
https://github.com/nodejitsu/forever/issues/116
Older versions of forever can use the following command line format:
NODE_ENV=production forever [flags] app.js