Mystery Meat: USDA Labels May Not Mean What You Think
In the days before I discovered local farms I used to wander the meat and dairy section at Whole Foods wishing for a food-label decoder ring.
Me: What is the difference between a free-range egg and a cage-free egg? Should I go for the all-natural or the organic upgrade? Omega-3 loaded or regular?
Decoder ring: No fear, Mommypotamus! I will help you!
Why is it so hard to understand what all these terms mean? Excuse me for saying so, but I think it was intended to be difficult. Did you know that Muir Glen Organic and Cascadian Farms are actually owned by General Mills? Organic food is the fastest growing sector of the food marketplace, and industrial food producers are determined not to miss out. While these companies may technically be organic, the spirit in which they were formed seems to have been lost when they were acquired by the titans. I read recently that industrial organic growers are lobbying hard to relax the restrictions on what can be labeled organic. My concern is that if they get their way the term will virtually lose it’s meaning.
Here’s an insightful quote from Barbara Kinsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle“:
The rising consumer interest in organic food has inspired most of the country’s giant food conglomerates to cash in, at some level. These big players have successfully moved the likes of bagged salads and hormone-free milk from boutique to mainstream markets and even big box stores.
But low price has its costs. In order to meet federal organic standards as cheaply as possible and maximize profits, some industrial-scale organic producers (though not all) cut every corner that’s allowed, and are lobbying the government to loosen organic rules further. Some synthetic additives are now permitted, thanks to pressure from industrial organics.
A chicken may be sold as ‘free range’ if the house in which it’s confined (with 20,000 others) has a doorway leading out to a tiny yard, even though that doorway remains shut for so much of the chickens’ lives, they never learn to go outside.
Which brings me to this letter I received from a local farm. It’s one rancher’s perspective on how new USDA labeling rules could potentially confuse and frustrate consumers. Sadly, it looks like “grass-fed” may become yet another meaningless, misleading term :
With the increased interest by consumers in more nutritious beef, the USDA (Department of Agriculture) decided to define (dictate) the minimum standards of just what is required by ranchers/producers of beef to qualify for certain beef labels.
Our local Texas Grassfed Livestock Alliance, our national American Grassfed Association, our national Animal Welfare Alliance, and several other all-grass associations lobbied very hard with our USDA beef labeling committee to seize upon this opportunity to “narrowly define” exact protocols and standards so consumers would know exactly what they are eating.
Of course, the big meat packers and feedlot owners also lobbied very hard for a very “broadly defined” set of protocols and minimum standards. We lost and they won the lobbying war; and now meat labels are more confusing than ever.
The new labeling standards are as follows:
All Natural
As popularized by Nolan Ryan’s Tender-Aged All Natural Beef: Nolan Ryan owns no fewer than four mega-large “feedlots” in Texas. Foreman’s Choice is jumping on this bandwagon also. Now, according to the USDA, All Natural means producers can give Growth Hormones (steroid implants and growth promoters), high-dosage quantities of antibiotics (when feedlot animals are sick), and low-dosage quantities of antibiotic feeds (medicated feeds) with the grain-based feeds used in feedlots. FYI, 70% of worldwide antibiotic consumption is in U.S. feedlots.
NOW, the only requirement mandated by the USDA is that for the LAST 90 DAYS before slaughter, producers cannot administer these items to the animals. An animal is slaughtered between 12-24 months of age. . . The USDA believes all the effects of hormones and antibiotics have left the meat tissue after 90 days. These animals can be finished in the feedlot and never have access to grass their entire lives and they still qualify as ALL NATURAL.
Pasture Finished
Means a producer can feed his animals a “grain-based diet” as long as animals have access to pasture. Feedlots that open a gate from their feedlots into an adjacent “small” pasture can qualify as Pasture Finished. Feedlots manage thousands of head per day on a limited number of acres; i.e., 10-500 acres. Most ranchers run 1 cow per 5 to 40 acres to ensure that one animal has adequate grass to graze. So, a feedlot with 10,000 head would need 400,000 acres to adequately provide for those animals. 450,000 acres is half the size of the average Texas County. 450,000 acres is 30 miles long and 15 miles wide.
Unfortunately, cattle are similar to humans. They prefer sweet foods like grain and corn to grass. They will spend the majority of their time at the feed trough and a minority of time eating grass…if there is any grass to eat. The original intent was to define Pasture Finished to help consumers understand that cattle do not eat just grass. While in a pasture, they eat a lot of different green forages: winter annuals, wheat, rye, forbs, weeds, tree leaves, etc. But, it needs to be “green.” So, our farm is replacing all of its Pasture-Raised/Pasture-Finished language with Grass-Raised/Grass-Finished.
Grassfed
According to the USDA, means an animal must have “access” to grass and pasture during its life, and the animals must get the majority of its nutrients from grass. The USDA does not define how much time or at what age these animals have this “access” to grass or pasture. Nor will the USDA monitor ranches/feedlots 24/7 to verify how much time an animal spends eating grass vs. grains from feed troughs.
In addition, the USDA is allowing producers to implant animals with growth hormones and to doctor with antibiotics and to feed medicated feeds and still qualify as Grassfed. The USDA’s position is that the use of hormones and antibiotics has nothing “literally” to do with the “concept” of grassfed. We, little guys, all argued (in person before the head of the USDA’s labeling committee) that the average consumer would be EXTREMELY CONFUSED by this labeling.
Cloning
The USDA recently ruled that meat from cloned animals was safe for human consumption. This means that the beef (all meats) you buy from your supermarket will not carry a label distinguishing that one cut was produced from a cloned animal while another cut was produced naturally. This means you will never know where and how your beef was produced.
After reading this article, I walked to the freezer and pulled out a skirt steak produced by Holy Cow Beef. Then I walked to the phone and called the rancher that both raised the meat on my counter and wrote this letter. In about half an hour he told me more than I’d ever imagined I’d know about the beef industry, which I’ll be sharing in subsequent posts.
The good news is that I learned Whole Foods has co-developed it’s own internal standards for “Grass-fed” beef in cooperation with the Grassfed Livestock Alliance (a Texas organization). The standards, which reflect the true spirit of grass-fed beef, extend to the Texas/Oklahoma/Arkansas/Louisiana District. Whole Foods has similar arrangements in some other districts. For now, I’d say the most important takeaway is this. Unless you buy from a local ranch or from a reputable reseller such as Whole Foods, the “Grass-fed” label isn’t likely to deliver what you’re expecting.
Holy Cow Beef is in the process of creating a website. To contact them about their AMAZING products, call (940) 550-4950.
To find a local rancher in your area, visit Eat Wild.
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