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grass-fed beef
Guide to Buying Grass-Fed Beef
New meat labels are in the works, but they won't help you ID grass-fed beef, the tastiest, healthiest option. Here's what you need to know.
By Emily Main
Topics: food labeling and certification, meat, food marketing
Learn which terms and labels on beef are meaningful—and which ones aren't.
If this is what you think of when you hear "grass-fed beef," make sure it's what you're getting.
RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—When you buy beef from the grocery store, you can usually tell that there's some kind of beef encased in all that plastic and styrofoam. You also know what cut of beef you're getting. But as for details on what you're actually eating, packages are not very informative. That will all change when the same "Nutrition Facts" panel that appears on milk, eggs, and every other packaged food at the grocery store will start appearing on packages of beef, as well as poultry and pork, a new USDA rule that will take full effect in January 2012. But what those labels won't tell you is whether your meat contains residues of rBGH or rBST growth hormones or whether it contains trace amounts of the 30 million pounds of antibiotics used on livestock every year. They won't give you a good idea of where your meat came from or how the animals were treated prior to slaughter, nor will they tell you about an animal's diet, which can impact the health of the animal as well as whether it's meat is contaminated with E. coli.
If you care about all those things—as well as the nutritional quality of your beef—it's best to avoid the supermarket and buy grass-fed beef directly from a farmer, says Shannon Hayes, a partner at Sap Bush Hollow Farm in upstate New York and the founder of GrassFedCooking.com. "Either know a local natural-food store owner who knows how beef is produced, or know the farmer directly," she says. "Trust is the only thing that's going to assure your meat was produced ethically." Grass-fed beef has also been found to contain higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids and is typically leaner than it's corn-fattened counterpart behind the market's deli counter (those are some nutrition facts that won't appear on the new labels, either).
However, savvy marketers have come up with some creative terminology to convince you that conventionally produced meat is as good as truly pasture-raised, grass-fed beef.
Following is a rundown of some common terms used on grass-fed beef packages and what they all mean.
Published on January 18th, 2010
Last updated on September 23rd, 2011
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Grass Fed
Knowing the producer of the beef you are purchasing as with the majority of the fresh food you purchase is always in your best interest.
There is a lot to know about Grass Fed and Finished beef! Knowing the quality of the grass feed and the time of year the beef is butchered plays an extremely important roll in the quality and taste of the beef. A fact over looked by those who feel if it raised on grass and finished on grass all will be good.
I sell grass fed/finished beef to a repeat clientele by "privet treaty" meaning they purchase the animal from me and then they make arrangements with the butcher to come out put their animal down, hang the meat to age and package the beef to their specifications.
Most families do not have the room to handle a whole cow/steer or even a half for that matter (it's a lot of meat). So I will suggest those of you who 1) have never eaten grass fed beef 2) don't have family size or freezer size to handle the amount of beef to shop online at Hearst Ranch Beef. They raise grass fed/ finished beef, own and operate their own USDA approved packing house!
They are a trusted family ranch!
Also shop Local Harvest online by Zip Code you will find Local growers and Livestock producers in your area that you can meet face to face and learn more about what you are putting on your table! I hope the resources I've mentioned will help you start buying local fresh
Making more intelligent purchases
It's important for us as buyers (ChefMod, LLC) to know how things are sold and to trust the suppliers to do the right thing. The lack of government requirements makes this a little harder to do. Thank you for pointing more attention at the issues!
John
grassfed certification
As President of the American Grassfed Association I appreciate your mention via Jo Robinson of our certification program. It is the only grassfed certification that encompasses the whole pastoral agricultural model. Our certification program verifys producers who use a solar based energy system to improve the health and well being of the animals, improve the land, improve the healthiness and safety of the product and support American family farms. Check out www.americangrassfed.org for more information.
What is grass-fed cattle?
I don't know if you have any knowledge of handling cattle but the situation you described would be very labor intensive and not at all productive. The truth is people who raise grass fed cattle are actually grass farmers that hire cattle to harvest their crops. It is a very simple, economical and hands-off approach to farming. In my experience, the hardest part is building fences, and the most thought goes into managing your pastures. Everything else is just moving your cattle once (or twice) a day and making sure they are healthy (which is easy because they are living like they are intended). In truth grass fed beef should be cheaper because the input costs (time, machinery, infrastructure) are much lower, but I will gladly take the premium for doing something I feel is right for both the land and the animals.
response to Al's question
We are 100% grass-fed at our farm. Our cattle never have seen the inside of a barn or a feed trough. They forage on grass and only grass. No antibiotics, hormones, steriods, chemicals, pesticides or artificial fertilizers are ever used on our farm! Does every grass farmer have our strict standards? No. But there are many that do. Keep looking; your health will thank you for it! :-)
Give me grass fed
Give me grass fed any day. The flavor is better, the animals live how nature intended, and the bacteria levels are lower. What else can you do besides raise them yourselves?
grass fed
Just what is a grass fed animal??One that is put out to pasture for ten minutes or two minutes a day then goes to the barn and is fed grain or what ever the rest of the day.Be interesting to know.