Grass Fed Beef Michigan 80 20 Alde

Have you always paid more for your nutrient and discovered subsequently the product did non live upwardly to its claims?

Mayhap this happened to you and you don't even know it.

Unfortunately, this happens daily to thousands of consumers who are trying to feed their families healthy and upstanding food. Navigating label claims can exist daunting and downright frustrating, simply information technology doesn't have to be this way for you.

Our farm has raised grass-fed beef for the past 20 years and nosotros'd like to offer yous an inside look into this industry to help you cutting through all the marketing fluff when shopping for true grass-fed beef.

Beef is a big culprit when information technology comes to misleading claims. Why beef? Ane of the main reasons is that compared to chicken or pork, beef has a higher perceived value and therefore in that location'due south a greater temptation for companies to increment profits using claims.

This article exposes what I consider the nearly misleading claims you will encounter when shopping for beef.

Before we start down the list, continue in mind that every single 24-hour interval over 100,000 cattle are harvested for food in the U.Southward [1] and 97% are packed in crowded feedlots and fed grain.[2]

Yet, when y'all visit the grocery store you'll notice that about every brand or retailer is trying to brand claims that their beef is somehow different or better.

It doesn't add up.

Spend a few minutes investigating this the adjacent time you lot shop a grocery shop and you'll see what I hateful.

The reality is that the beefiness industry has remained unchanged for decades and currently 85% of the beefiness sold at retail comes from the same four companies.[3] Then with that added backstory, let's become down to the truth of the matter...

Here are the top half-dozen beef claims to look out for:

#1 Grass-fed or 100% Grass-fed

It's of import to know that much of the beef you see sold as 100% grass-fed at retail stores across the U.S is still being produced in feedlots and being fed grain by-products.

As an case, I was one time touring a ranch in Nebraska that raised cattle for several brands that claimed 100% grass-fed on the USDA approved label. During the bout, the rancher was very honest in explaining that his cattle were fed a diversity of diets including soy-hulls and beet pulp to improve weight gain. This producer was simply following the protocols given to him by the branded beef visitor he was contracted to raise for.

Technically the USDA standards do not allow for feedlot finishing or feeding of grain past-products for beefiness that is labeled as "100% grassfed". However, if you review the production protocols of the largest brands that claim "100% grassfed" on their labels, you can easily meet that these brands allow for grain past-products including soy hulls, peanut hulls, beet lurid, DDGs (dried distillers grains) and many other not-starch grain by-products.

Go along in mind that there are just 16 Food Safety Inspection Services(FSIS) employees at the USDA who are responsible for verifying nearly i meg label submissions per twelvemonth. It is simply impossible for so few people to ensure the accuracy backside each label claim.

Recommendation: Bottom line is that when you lot meet the claim 100% Grass-fed on a USDA characterization information technology cannot be trusted without visiting the actual farm.

#two Product of USA

This ends upward existence a meaningless merits because all meats that are imported from another country can legally merits "Product of Us" as long as it passed through a USDA processor.

This is one of the most egregious labeling loopholes in the nutrient industry as it undermines your ability as a consumer to know where your food comes from.

According to a recent report from the Rock Barns Center, 75-78% of all grass-fed beef sold at retail is imported from overseas and can be sold equally "Product of USA." The report goes on to say that "American consumers are often not aware that they are buying imported beef."

Recommendation: Whether y'all are buying an online monthly habitation delivery beef subscription box or visiting a local grocer, ask what country their cattle are raised in.

#three Certified Organic Beef

The reason I include "Certified Organic" in this listing is due to the fact that nigh of the organic beef in the US is a by-product of spent dairy cows from organic dairies that mirror industrial style production practices.

In that location's been a lot written by folks like Michael Pollan on how the organic label has been taken over by the industrial food system and the dairy industry is a major offender of this takeover.

In what has been considered one of the largest fraud investigations of the organic manufacture, The Cornucopia Institute revealed the post-obit photo of an 18,000 cow organic dairy operation in Stratford Texas. [5]

The photo above represents where organic beef tin can come up from and explains why retailers tin offer this "organic" beef at prices not much more than conventional beefiness.

I'1000 guessing this is non the pic you lot had in mind when you saw the discussion Organic.

Keep in mind that "organically" produced beef can still be fed grain and confined to feedlots for portions of their life. Unknown to most consumers, the "organic" grain that is fed to the cattle can still be raised with chemical pesticides. Yous can visit the USDA'due south website for a full list of approved synthetic pesticides for organic production here.

One terminal point, according to The Cornucopia Institute nearly half the organic corn and over 80% of the organic soybeans used for livestock feed is imported from Mainland china and onetime Soviet Bloc countries that take been known for loftier levels of commercial fraud.

#4 Humanely Raised Beef

In contempo years there has been a host of 3rd political party labels that are used by brands to convince consumers that their animals were raised and cared for humanely. Unfortunately, most of these certifications practise very fiddling to improve the bodily welfare conditions on the subcontract.

The largest brute welfare certifiers including the Global Creature Partnership, American Humane, Certified Humane and others allow for conventional feedlot cattle finishing.

For instance GAP (Global Brute Partnership) is widely used by progressive grocery retailers. On the surface, their standards appear to be loftier. Nonetheless, what most consumers are unaware of is the fact that there are up to five levels of GAP Certification.

While many retailers similar to promote the high standards of GAP 4 and 5 approval, the bulk of products that are sold just meet the everyman levels for animal care. Ane could argue that the higher levels exist to create a higher perceived value for the overall characterization merits.

Enforcing standards for animal care is very difficult as farms must carry out welfare practices daily - nevertheless each subcontract is inspected only once per year at best.

#5 All-Natural vs Naturally-Grown Beef

This tin be a very confusing allegation as both of these claims have very dissimilar meanings when applied to beefiness product practices.

The claim "All-Natural" simply means the meat was non fundamentally altered during processing or does not include any artificial ingredients. This merits has nothing to practise with the farm's production practices which means beef labeled as "All-Natural" tin can come up from cattle that were given artificial hormones.

However, when you see the term "Naturally-Raised" it does mean the cattle were raised without the use of artificial hormones or animal by-products. Go on in listen that this merits does not exclude the utilize of drugs and all the same allows for cattle to be raised in feedlots.

#6 Locally Sourced Beef

In our region of the country, most states have introduced labelings such equally Indiana Grown, Kentucky Proud, Michigan Made and others. These programs were started with groovy intentions, but proceed in heed that any product that is but processed (non grown) inside the land will qualify for these labels. For example, in the land of Indiana branded meat companies can source cattle from whatsoever state and still qualify for Indiana Grown labeling equally long every bit information technology was processed within the state.

(1 nice tip to keep in listen nigh Indiana Grown Labeling is that products that are both produced and processed inside the country qualify for a higher tier characterization that reads "100% Indiana Grown.")

Conclusion:

It is important to keep in mind that wellness conscious consumers like you and me apply labels to evaluate and judge food integrity - while food brands use labels equally a primary manner to increase profits and sales.

In my opinion, food labels are one of the most unreliable methods for judging quality - afterwards all, it's just a cardboard label. What matters is the integrity and honesty of the company behind the characterization. Information technology all comes down to trust and trust cannot be labeled, regulated, or enforced.

At Vii Sons we believe that the only fashion we will always take a food system of integrity is if nosotros first have people of integrity. This includes farmers, police force-makers, and consumers alike.

We encourage you to notice a farmer in your region who you can truly trust to raise your beef and other food products with integrity.

References:

1. [1] Factory Farms
2. [2] Back to Grass PDF
3. [3] four Companies Control Near All the Meat You Consume
4. [4] How many cows are in a single hamburger?
5. [five] "Mill Farms" Massive Production Quanitities

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Source: https://sevensons.net/blog/top-6-misleading-beef-claims-and-how-to-spot-them

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