What’s in your beef?

There have been periods in my life when I have been a vegetarian, and in fact because of my slow burning metabolism I tend to prefer a diet with only a small amount of red meat. But when I do eat meat, I want to know that what I am eating is nutritious, has been raised humanely and is free of foreign substances, which sadly isn’t the case with supermarket meat these days.

Disappearing nutrition

Before factory farming took hold in the 1960s, cattle were raised on family farms or ranches around the country. Young calves were born in the spring and spent their first months suckling milk and grazing on grass. When they were weaned, they were turned out onto pastures. The calves grew to maturity at a natural pace, reaching market weight at two to three years of age. After the animals were slaughtered, the carcasses were kept cool for a couple of weeks to enhance flavor and tenderness, a traditional process called dry aging. The meat was then shipped in large cuts to meat markets and local butchers.

This meat was free of antibiotics, added hormones, feed additives, flavor enhancers, age-delaying gases and salt-water solutions. Mad cow disease and the deadly strain of E. coli 0157:H7 did not exist. People dined on rare steaks and steak tartare (raw ground beef) with little fear.

Not so today –huge feedlots bring cattle to slaughter weight in just one or two years. The cattle are kept in appalling conditions, they are given antibiotics so that they don’t get sick, hormones to fatten them up faster and they are fed a diet high in grain (which is likely to be genetically modified) which increases the risk of contamination with bacteria such as E coli. To further cut costs, many farmers supplement their animals’ diet with ‘by-product foodstuffs’ or the bits that are left over from processing other foods; stale bread, candy, vegetable scraps, chicken feathers, salvaged pet food and junk food (I’m not making this up!). This inhumane process reduces the nutritional value of the meat, stresses the animals, increases the risk of bacterial contamination, pollutes the environment and exposes consumers to a long list of unwanted chemicals.

The beef coming out of these feedlots and destined for supermarket shelves and restaurant tables contains traces of hormones, antibiotics, water, sodium chloride, preservatives and other chemicals, all of which end up in the meat on your plate. If you eat meat, one of the best things that you can do for your health when you begin to change your diet is to avoid this toxic food.

Is there an alternative?

Yes, most definitely there is: grass fed beef that has been raised organically, and not finished on grain (check with the supplier, as this is common even among organic farmers, but it does change the fatty acid profile of the meat). Not only is this type of meat sustainably, humanely raised but it also contains omega-3 anti-inflammatory fatty acids, is a great source of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which helps prevent cancer and builds lean muscle, and good levels of  vitamins A, B and E which have antioxidant properties. Here in Reno our options are somewhat limited when it comes to buying high quality beef, but www.grasslandbeef.com is a company that I can recommend, and if you send me an email I can also put you in touch with a local beef buying group.

As an aside, it is not just beef from feedlot cattle that is hazardous to your health. Commercially raised chickens and pork have just the same number of problems and are just as bad for you. Whenever you eat any kind of meat ALWAYS choose the free range, organic option, or don’t eat meat, it’s as simple as that.