A report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, written by a UC Berkeley researcher, concluded that beef from pastured, grass-fed cattle contains lower total fat than factory-farmed meat. Living on pasture and eating grass not only make the animals healthier, but a growing body of research shows that the meat they produce is much healthier for humans. Indeed, “pastured” and “grass-fed” have effectively replaced organic and free-range as the standards in sustainably grown, cruelty-free farming.
chickens from Petaluma Farms, that access is a semi-enclosed sun-porch that the chickens tend to avoid, according to research from the Cornucopia Institute, an environmental watchdog and scientific research group.īut pasture-raised, grass-fed cows, pigs, and chickens really do spend most of their days outdoors on open pastureland. Under weak government regulations won by large agribusiness, the free-range designation only requires that the chickens have “access” to the outdoors. Most, in fact, never actually go outside. Likewise, free-range chickens aren’t actually free-range. They also are more likely to suffer from dehydration, intestinal damage, and liver problems. Cows are grass-eaters, so corn and grain raise acidity levels in their bodies, making them more susceptible to illness, including E. Their feed is typically made of organic corn and grain, and though it isn’t laced with pesticides, it still makes cows sick, because their stomachs don’t have the ability to digest it. Lax government standards, for example, allow so-called organic cows to be housed in factory-farm-like conditions, packed shoulder-to-shoulder in tight living quarters. But the organic and free-range labels were co-opted and corrupted by Big Business. Environmentalists and sustainable-food advocates used to view organic and free-range as the antidote to factory farms. In many ways, however, pasture-raised, grass-fed meat is fulfilling the hope that many people once had for organic and free-range meat.
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The abject cruelty of factory farms is well-documented: animals, packed together, spending much of their lives standing in their own feces, pumped full of antibiotics to ward off infections. “I lost weight … about seven pounds,” she said after she switched from being a vegetarian to eating pasture-raised meat. Pasture-raised meat also has much less fat than factory-farmed meat, especially fats that are unhealthy for humans. “I used to have to eat a lot of salad, vegetables, and grains in order to feel full,” she explained.īut once she began eating high-protein, pasture-raised meat, she said she found that she no longer needed to eat as much food. But she added that as someone with a high metabolism, she felt unsatisfied with her vegetarian diet. Koss said she also had stopped eating meat because of the cruel factory-farming practices common throughout the nation. Grace Koss of Alamo, who was chatting with Lander about pasture-raised meat when I visited the shop recently, blurted out - without prompting - that she, too, was once a vegetarian. He said he hears comments at least once a day at the butcher shop from former vegetarians who say they now eat meat - but only if it’s pasture-raised. “Now, I’m a carnivore,” he said, “but only for Marin Sun Farms.” As a result, they weren’t getting sick from eating corn and grain, nor were they being pumped full of hormones and antibiotics.
“I grew up in Iowa all the cows there are pumped full of hormones. “I was a vegetarian for six or seven years,” he said. Moreover, because of sustainable, humane farming practices, in which animals spend much of their lives outdoors, grazing on their natural food sources, more and more people are feeling more comfortable about eating meat - even those who had once been vegetarian.Īaron Lander, a sales manager at Marin Sun Farms butcher shop in Rockridge, is one such person. Numerous East Bay restaurants feature locally-grown, pasture-raised meat as well. Marin Sun Farms and The Local Butcher Shop, which sell meat from grass-fed animals that were raised on Northern California pastureland, have opened outlets in Oakland and Berkeley. Over the past few years, the popularity of eating sustainably grown meat has grown dramatically in progressive communities like the East Bay.
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