What’s Really in Your Meat?

If you are eating Pasture Grazed beef, we are confident there are no hallucinogenic party drugs in your meat!

Consumer Reports is at it again. Two years ago we wrote a blog post about Consumer Reports – Beef Report (Feb. 2017). That report focused on how beef cattle are raised, sustainability issues along with what labels are meaningful when choosing beef products. Consumer Reports validated our Pasture Grazed approach to raising beef. The report also confirmed the Animal Welfare Approved and Certified Grassfed by AGW labels as meaningful!

This past November (2018) Consumer Reports published this article: “Are Banned Drugs in Your Meat?” The reporting is summarized into a 16 minute video, “What’s Really in Your Meat?“.

Some take home points:

• Consumer Reports investigators found USDA had meat sampling data showing beef, pork and chicken contaminated with banned drugs above the Food Safety and Inspection Service safe levels.
• There is some debate over the reported drug data according to government representatives.
  • Doug agrees with Consumers Report (CR) that it is not a data issue. The data is most likely accurate, it seems to be a government agency struggling with how to implement results from new and improved testing procedures.
• The report says it is not “always clear” how the banned drugs get into meat.
  • Doug agrees with the report that the drugs could enter the animals from the water they drink or the soil. But a search of PubMed suggests more research is needed to determine if the water pathway is responsible for the levels found in the meat sample data.
  • Will Harris of White Oak Pasture is featured in the video suggesting the drug source is likely at the “farm” level, administered or part of the feed. We respect Will’s opinion. If you have not seen this video of White Oak Farm, it is worth your time: One Hundred Thousand Beating Hearts – YouTube.
• What should you do as a consumer?
  • Unfortunately we disagree when the report (and video) suggests consumers reduce their intake of meat due to health and environmental reasons.
  • Doug would like to see the research that suggests meat production is an environmental issue and meat is unhealthy when it comes to Pasture Grazed animals! In fact there is research readily available that shows the opposite.
    • Meat animals raised in natures image are a very important nutrient source for human health and regenerating our nations lands.
    • It is the HOW not the COW.
      • What do we mean by the “HOW”? It’s not the cow’s fault.
      • It is how the cow is raised.
      • It is human management that is the problem.
      • The cow is simply a natural resource provided by God.
      • Raise and manage a cow according to natures pattern (cows eat grass, manure and move on) and you end up with the most environmentally friendly and nutrient dense product available on the planet.

Good work Consumer Reports

We applaud Consumer Reports for their investigation and hope that this will encourage more meat consumers to source healthy, environmentally regenerative meat grown by local farmers. This is truly what we as consumers should be doing.

We vote for the type of food system we want every time we put something in our mouth. Spend your food dollars to change the system. We know this is happening, as described in our Mothers On Mission post from just last year. The food industry is responding, keep voting by purchasing locally from farmers you know and trust.

In this latest investigation, Consumer Reports has expressed what we have been trying to convey to our readers since day one. IF YOU ARE:

“Worried about what you are ‘really’ eating? Have peace of mind with pasture grazed meats.”

DS Family Farm