What Kind of Grass-Fed Beef are you Eating?

The demand for grass-fed beef has been increasing yet a range of practices and labels and a lack of regulation persists. Labels can be confusing for sure and with regulations being questionable is it worth the extra price? Yes, but as the consumer we have to do our research.

Cows are indeed supposed to eat grass, not the genetically modified corn/soy/grain mixture that most farmers give them. One of the benefits of eating grass-fed beef is the significantly higher levels of omega-3s present in it. Depending on the breed of cow, grass-fed beef contains between 2 and 5 times more omega-3s than grain-fed beef. Grass-fed beef also contains significantly more of the antioxidants vitamin E, beta-carotene, glutathione, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase than grain-fed beef. These antioxidants play an important role in protecting our cells from oxidation.  

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has potent antioxidant activity, and research indicates that it helps protect against heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Beef is one of the best dietary sources of CLA, and grass-fed beef contains an average of 2 to 3 times more CLA than grain-fed beef. This is because grain-based diets reduce the pH of the digestive system in ruminant animals, which inhibits the growth of the bacterium that produces CLA. It’s interesting to note that as a whole, Americans consume far less CLA than people from countries such as Australia, where grass-fed beef tends to be the rule rather than the exception.

So now that you know all the health benefits of eating grass-fed and are ready to spend the extra money to do so you need to know exactly what is meant by the label “grass-fed”. And is all grass-fed beef the same?

According to rancher and the author of Defending Beef, Nicolette Hahn Niman, “On average, the cattle in the U.S. that is going through feedlots is slaughtered at 14-16 months. They do grow fatter and faster if they’re being fed grain, so they’re going into feedlots at younger ages to shorten that time as much as possible." In contrast, grass-fed cows are slaughtered anywhere between 18-36 months.

“When you keep cattle on grass their whole lives, and truly have them forage for a diet that their bodies have evolved to eat, you allow them to grow at a slower pace,” says Niman. Not surprisingly, caring for the animal for so long can be expensive for ranchers and consumers.

Marilyn Noble of the American Grassfed Association argues that beef producers have little incentive to stick with those rules. “You see a lot of beef labeled as ‘grass-fed,’ but whether or not it actually meets that standard is questionable."

Noble’s skepticism is rooted in the fact that, for the most part, the USDA allows producers to determine whether or not their beef meets the grass-fed beef marketing claim standard. Noble says farms “self-certify” their own beef, and the Food Safety and Inspection Service generally goes along with their claim.

Unless also labeled organic, it’s perfectly permissible for grass-fed cows to be given antibiotics to prevent infection and synthetic hormones to promote faster growth. Also, it's important for your grass-fed meat to be labeled organic because otherwise the grass they are eating is probably being treated with herbicides and fertilizers on a pretty consistent basis.

So what are we to do? We, the consumers who want to know if our extra dollars are getting the extra healthy meat. Farmers’ markets with farmers offering organic and grass-fed beef from their own pastures may be the safest way to go. In this way we can talk directly to farmers to find out how their beef was raised.

Many of these producers have begun using the term “pasture raised,” another unregulated labeling term that is popular among ranchers raising pigs and chickens. The other week I bought pasture raised bacon from the farmer's market and when reading the ingredients was surprised to see nitrates on the label. I assumed that the farmer's goal was healthy meat. That if he was caring enough to raise pasture pigs that he would not then poison the consumer with nitrates. So ask questions and read labels! There’s nothing worse than spending extra money on fancy labels and empty promises. Most small, local farms know and understand this and are more than willing to go above and beyond to reassure their customers of the natural, ethical, and sustainable nature of their farming practices.