What You Need to Know About The You Eat Supermarket beef is an unnatural, by Jo Robinson industrial product. The good news is Illustrations there are better and safer options. by Keri Rosebraugh

ou can’t see it. And you can’t al- suckling milk and grazing on grass. When for a couple weeks to enhance flavor and ways recognize it by reading the they were weaned, they were turned out tenderness, a traditional process called dry label. But the beef in your super- onto pastures. Some cattle were given a aging. The meat was then shipped in large Ymarket has gone industrial. moderate amount of grain to enhance cuts to meat markets. The local butcher di- Before factory farming took hold in the marbling (the fat interlaced in the muscle). vided it into individual cuts upon request 1960s, cattle were raised on family farms The calves grew to maturity at a natural and wrapped it in white paper and string. or ranches around the country. The pro- pace, reaching market weight at two to This meat was free of antibiotics, added cess was elemental. Young calves were born three years of age. After the animals were hormones, feed additives, flavor enhancers, in the spring and spent their first months slaughtered, the carcasses were kept cool age-delaying gases and salt-water solutions. Mad cow disease and the deadliest strain of More ominous, the beef also may be in- timing of conception, allowing all the calves What You Need to Know About E. coli — 0157:H7 — did not exist. People fected with food-borne bacteria, including to be born within days of each other — a dined on rare and tartare (raw E. coli 0157:H7. Some experts believe this “more efficient” process. In many ranches, ) with little fear. toxic E. coli evolved in cattle that were fed herd bulls have been replaced by artificial high-grain diets. Every year, hundreds of insemination, which is a fast (read: more The You What’s in Your Beef? thousands of pounds of beef products are efficient) way to improve herd genetics. Beef Eat Today’s industrialized process brings cat- recalled. One of the largest recalls to date The goal is consistent size, tenderness and tle to slaughter weight in just one or two took place in October 2007 when Topps marbling. But industry insiders predict years. But it reduces the nutritional value of Meat company recalled 21.7 million that many ranchers will be using cloned the meat, stresses the animals, increases the pounds of hamburger because of potential cattle in five or 10 years. The mass-pro- risk of bacterial contamination, pollutes E. coli contamination. The massive recall duced calves will be carbon copies of each the environment and exposes consumers actually put the company out of business. other. The Food and Drug Administration to a long list of unwanted chemicals. And now there’s mad cow disease, a (FDA) granted preliminary approval of The beef contains traces of hormones, mysterious disease that is not destroyed by cloning in December 2006, declaring that antibiotics and other chemicals that were cooking and has been fatal. You could in- the meat is indistinguishable from normal never produced by any cow. That ham- gest “prions” (abnormal proteins) by eating meat, and is as safe for human consump- burger looks fresh, but it may be two even a well-done rib roast. These prions in- tion. In similar circumstances, no labeling weeks old and injected with gases to keep filtrate your brain, perforate it with holes, has been required. it cherry red. Take a closer look at that and cause death in a few years’ time. “guaranteed tender and juicy” filet of beef. The artificial manipulation of beef be- Goodbye Grass, The juiciness may have been “enhanced” gins prior to conception. Many cows are Hello Feedlot with a concoction of water, salt, preserva- treated with synthetic hormones, such as After the calves are born, they spend tives and other additives. “melengestrol acetate,” that regulate the the first seven to nine months grazing You can assume that search showing that even most of the beef in your trace amounts can promote tumor growth. At The Ohio supermarket contains State University, cancer re- searchers mixed human hormone residues. breast cancer cells with trace amounts of Zeranol, one of the five hormones used in U.S. cattle. Zeranol caused a significant spurt in tu- mor growth, even at levels 30 times lower than levels the FDA maintains are safe. The European Commission Health and Consumer Protection Directorate-General has identified more than a dozen additional studies that raise concern about the safety of the implants, including the possibility they might cause birth defects and changes in sexual de- velopment in children. Weighing all the evidence, the European Union (EU) has banned the use of implants. They also refuse to import U.S. beef from animals treated with hormones. Although EU scientists concede there is no clear proof that the implants are harmful to humans, they assert there also is no proof that they on grass, the same are safe. What’s more, they say, Europeans way calves have been raised have expressed a clear preference for hor- for generations. But when they reach mone-free beef, even if no health risks are 500 to 700 pounds, they are herded into implants returns five to 10 dollars in add- found. The World Trade Organization, at trucks and shipped to auction barns where ed gain for each animal in the six to 12 the urging of the U.S. government, now they’re sold to new owners and trucked months they spend in the feedlot. levies trade sanctions against the EU for to distant feedlots. The journey can take closing their doors to U.S. beef. up to a week. Upon arrival at the feedlot, Are Hormone Meanwhile, the FDA stands by its claim the stressed, thirsty and hungry calves are Implants Safe? that beef from implanted cattle contains herded down chutes and subjected to a Given the fact that nine out of 10 U.S. such small amounts of these drugs that number of procedures, which can include calves are treated with hormonal growth they pose no threat to human health. In dehorning, castration, branding and tag- promoters, you can assume that most of fact, the FDA is so confident in its ruling ging. Then they are dewormed and vacci- the beef in your supermarket contains that it does not require hormone use to nated against various diseases. A common hormone residues. The FDA has approved be listed on labels. practice is to mix antibiotics with the feed, five hormone implant growth promot- whether the now-stressed animals show ers for cattle. Three of them — estradiol, Grain and Antibiotics signs of illness or not. Tetracycline, an anti- progesterone and testosterone — are nat- Go Hand in Hand biotic important for humans, is one of the urally occurring hormones that are iden- Hormones are just one way to speed most commonly used medications. tical to those found in humans. Zeranol the growth of young calves. Another Lastly, the calves are implanted with pel- and trenbolone acetate are synthetic hor- strategy is to feed them an ultra high- lets that contain growth-promoting steroid mones that mimic natural ones. In addi- grain diet, the standard fare in most feed- hormones that lose their effectiveness in a tion, melengestrol acetate is approved as lots. One reason calves are switched from matter of months. Many animals are given a feed additive. Some implants contain a grass to grain is that grain is a more con- new implants of higher potency to replace mix of these various substances. centrated form of energy. Calves fattened them. The aggressive use of hormone im- Many consumers and advocacy groups on grain reach maturity months ahead of plants can add 110 pounds of lean meat are calling for a ban on these growth- grass-fattened calves. The less time cattle or more to a calf. Every dollar invested in promoting implants. They point to re- spend in feedlots, the greater the profit

76 Mother Earth News February/March 2008 they return. Corn is the grain of choice because it’s especially high in energy. Grain-feeding has another advantage: It keeps the as- sembly line moving steadily throughout the year. Grass becomes sparse during pe- riods of drought and cold weather, which slows the growth of the calves. Grain is available year-round, al- lowing calves to gain as much weight in So You Want Better Beef? January as they do in June. It also keeps Finding an alternative to industrial beef takes effort. The cattle industry is highly consoli- the meat cases stocked all year, a luxury dated, with the largest 25 feedlot companies now supplying 40 percent of all U.S. beef. we now take for granted. The packing industry is even more concentrated. The top four beef packers (IBP/Tyson, But unnatural high-grain diets have a Excel/Cargill, Swift/ConAgra and U.S. Premium/National Beef) harvest more than 80 per- major drawback: They make cattle sick. cent of the meat. By contrast, in the 1960s the top four packers slaughtered less than 30 To prevent or reduce the symptoms caused percent of all cattle. The trend is likely to continue, partly due to the fact that food giants, by grain-feeding, they are given a steady such as Wal-Mart and Safeway, cut costs by reducing their number of suppliers. Except dose of antibiotics in their feed — adding for a small section of the meat case devoted to “natural meats,” all the remaining beef yet another drug to the mix. you see in the stores comes from animals that were fed high-grain diets and treated with Why does grain-feeding cause health hormones, antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals. problems? Cattle, sheep and other graz- But you can find beef from cattle that were not fed filth, pumped up with hormones or ing animals have a specialized stomach treated with unnecessary antibiotics. And you can make sure it’s good and fresh. Better chamber called a “rumen.” The rumen is choices are beginning to pop up in natural and specialty grocery stores, on the Internet designed to convert fibrous plants such and in a growing number of traditional supermarkets. Here are a few pointers on how to as grasses into a nutritious, easily di- find them: gested meal. Replace the grass with grain and the rumen becomes too acidic. After • Opt for organic. The use of growth-promoting hormones and antibiotics is not allowed in several months, the condition can prog- certified organic beef production. Nor is feed made from animal byproducts, including ress to “acute acidosis.” Cattle with acute meat, blood and bone meal from chickens, pigs and ruminants. acidosis develop growths and abscesses • Go for the grass. Choose beef from cattle that were 100 percent “grass-fed” or “grass-fin- on their livers, stop eating, sicken and ished.” These animals are raised on their natural diet of grass from birth to market, and even die. are not routinely given antibiotics and hormones. Look for a comprehensive grass-fed Retired animal science professor Jim label from the American Grassfed Association in the coming months. Hayes, who holds a doctorate in repro- • Look at labels. Check for phrases like “Naturally Raised,” “No Hormones Added,” ductive physiology and animal science, “Raised Without Antibiotics” and “Never Fed Animal Byproducts.” But don’t be afraid and manages grass-based Sap Bush to do a little detective work; these kinds of labels rely primarily on the integrity of the Hollow Farm in Warnerville, N.Y., puts it producers, rather than independent certifying agencies. bluntly: “A high grain diet blows out their • Comb your community. Don’t be afraid to ask your local producers how they raise their livers.” To keep the calves alive and gain- beef, and beware those who don’t want to answer you! You can find producers near you ing weight, they must be given a steady at farmers markets and on the Web. Try www.eatwild.com or www.localharvest.com. diet of antibiotics. • Poke the package. Look for thin, flexible plastic wrap that clings to the meat. Modified Even with these countermeasures, many atmospheric packaging, or MAP, requires meat to be wrapped in thick, gas-impervious calves develop “subacute acidosis,” a more plastic with enough head room to trap the gases that keep the meat looking fresh for an aggressive form of acid indigestion. A unnaturally long time. calf with subacute acidosis will hang its • Deduce the date. Meat must have a “Sell by” or “Use by” date that states how long the head, drool, kick at its belly and eat dirt. meat is likely to remain safe to eat. But producers are not required to tell consumers Alarmingly, this is regarded as “natural” when the meat was packed. Processors who use MAP avoid listing the packing date, as it in the feedlot. According to an article in would spoil the illusion of freshness. Look for meat that tells you exactly when the meat the trade magazine, Feedlot: “Every ani- was packaged for sale. mal in the feedlot will experience subacute • Buy beef and nothing but. It’s easy to avoid injected beef. The large print usually boasts acidosis at least once during the feeding “Extra Tender and Moist” or “Marinated for Flavor.” But the fine print of the label re- period. … This is an important natural veals injections of up to 30 percent of a mysterious water-and-chemical concoction.

www.MotherEarthNews.com February/March 2008 77 function in adapting to high-grain finish- percentage of the bacteria survive because ing rations.” When calves are finished on of genetic differences. Once all the normal high-grain diets, a certain amount of suf- bacteria are destroyed, the resistant bacte- fering is simply taken for granted. ria are free to grow without competition. If you were to become infected with these Antibiotics as bacteria, the drug used to treat the cattle Growth Promoters would be ineffective. Alarmingly, half of The calves are given antibiotics for yet the drugs being used to treat animals are another reason, one that has nothing to do identical or nearly identical to those used with preventing or treating disease. Quite to treat humans. by accident, ranchers discovered that small A number of European countries have doses of antibiotics called “subtherapeutic greatly reduced animal use of antibiotics. doses” allow animals to make more ef- In Denmark, farmers voluntarily suspend- ficient use of their feed. (Antibiotics can ed use of antibiotic growth promoters by boost metabolic rate, nutrient absorption more than 60 percent without any signifi- and protein synthesis.) According to a cant economic impact. 2001 report by the Union of Concerned Virtually all the beef in your supermar- Scientists, an estimated 70 percent of all ket comes from animals that were treated the antibiotics used in the United States with growth-promoting antibiotics. You are now being given to healthy animals to can’t tell by reading the label, however, be- improve their growth and performance. cause the FDA doesn’t require antibiotic Many scientific and medical use to be listed. It’s agribusiness as usual. groups — including the American Medical Association — are calling for a reduction in Chewing Gum, Spent the use of antibiotics in animals. The prac- Hens and Garbage tice is creating and spreading antibiotic-re- There seems to be no end to cost-cut- sistant strains of bacteria. When people or ting measures in the modern feedlot. To Circle #57; see card pg 129 animals are treated with antibiotics, a small further lower the cost of feed, which ac-

Processed is the New “FRESH” Ten years ago, virtually all the beef on the market met the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) definition of “natural,” which means it has been minimally processed and contains no added ingredients, colors or preservatives. Now, beef is “flavor and moisture enhanced,” meaning it has been injected with a water-and-chemical solution — a marinade con- cocted by a chemist, not a cook — to make it look fresher longer, mask off-flavors or make it more tender and juicy. In addition, a growing percentage of beef is treated with Modified Atmosphere Packaging, or MAP. Raw meat is placed in airtight packages and injected with gases to delay or disguise the normal aging process. The meat industry hopes that MAP will save up to a billion dollars a year by keeping the meat in the display cases longer. Check ingredient The irony is that pastured cattle have labels to find out if meat enough natural antioxidants in their diet has been unnaturally “enhanced.” to keep their meat truly fresh longer than feedlot beef. What the processing plants try to do with a mix of chemicals, Mother Nature does on her own. To read about injected and gas-packed meat in greater detail, see “Shocking News About Meat” (June/July 2007).

Circle #29; see card pg 129 78 Mother Earth News February/March 2008 counts for 60 percent or more of the total cost of raising cattle, many cattle are fed “byproduct feedstuffs.” This can range from nutritious ingredients such as beet pulp and carrot tops, to junk: stale bread or candy and heat-treated garbage. As one feedlot operator told me, “Byproduct feedstuff is anything that is cheap, keeps the cattle growing and can be found close to the feedlot.” In New York state, chewing gum has been used as a cheap feed supplement. The novel practice was recommended in a 1996 study in the Journal of Animal Science. The study concluded that stale chewing gum — still in its aluminum wrappers! — can “safely replace at least 30 percent of [cattle] growing or finishing diets without impairing feedlot perfor- mance or carcass quality.” In other parts of the country, cattle are being finished on stale pizza dough and candy bars, even heat-treated garbage. Feedlot operators drive to the manufacturing plants or mu- nicipal landfills and load up their trucks with this yummy fare, or they buy the used goods from middlemen called “job- Circle #1; see card pg 129 bers” who offer a more varied buffet. According to a May 21, 2007, article in The Wall Street Journal, reliance on junk food has shot up in recent years because the cost of feed corn has doubled due to the increased use of corn for ethanol production. According to the article, one farmer now feeds his cattle a ration that is 17 percent stale candy and 3 percent stale “party mix.” Another feeds a 100 percent byproduct diet, including French fries, tater tots and potato peels. Some byproduct feedstuffs are high in protein and are considered a welcome addition to a high-grain diet. This list includes chicken feathers, salvaged pet food, ground-up laying hens (known as “spent hen meal”) and urea, a non-pro- tein source of nitrogen synthesized from ammonia and carbon dioxide that is widely used as fertilizer. Urea can sicken cattle if not mixed carefully with feed. The USDA does not require producers to tell you what the animals were fed. An Industry Gone Mad Beyond the obvious “yuck” factor, there is a compelling reason to restrict Circle #37; see card pg 129

www.MotherEarthNews.com February/March 2008 79 the use of byproduct feedstuffs in cattle An Attempt to Clean Up production: It can spread mad cow dis- the Feed Supply ease, the most frightening disease in the Mad cow disease helped pull in the history of the cattle industry. Until 1997, reins on an industry that was getting out many of the cattle in the United States of control. In 1997, the FDA ruled that and Europe were fed blood, meat and the rendered products of cattle, sheep, deer bone meal from other cattle. Scraps of and goats could no longer be fed to other meat and bone left over from the slaugh- ruminants. They also took steps to remove tering process were rendered (heat-treat- from the food supply the types of meat ed), ground into meal and then fed back tissue most likely to carry BSE, including to the cattle. In essence, cattle were be- the small intestine, spinal cord, brain and ing fed to cattle, turning herbivores into other nervous tissue. carnivores — and cannibals. In 2004, the agency also banned the No one realized that abnormal proteins practice of feeding mammalian blood called prions could survive the render- products to cattle, because new research ing process and transmit a deadly brain- showed that blood also can transmit BSE. wasting disease called bovine spongiform Blood was a common ingredient in the encephalopathy (BSE), commonly milk “replacer” fed to dairy calves. Feeding known as mad cow disease. Now research poultry litter was banned as well. Poultry strongly suggests that people who ingest litter is a polite term for the blanket of ma- meat from BSE-infected cattle can be in- nure, shavings, spilled feed, dead birds and flicted with a related and deadly brain feathers that accumulates on the floor of disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease large poultry operations. It can be a hidden (vCJD). As of July 2007, there have been source of BSE-infected beef, because the three cases in the United States in people FDA still allows meat and bone meal from who are believed to have contracted the cattle to be fed to chickens. disease in other countries, and 201 cases The meat industry now uses a me- Circle #5; see card pg 129 worldwide, most of them (166) in the chanical process called Advanced Meat United Kingdom. Only 13 of the people Recovery (AMR) to strip every scrap of who have contracted the disease since meat from the bones. AMR increases the 1990 are still alive. risk that spinal cord and other nervous tissue that can harbor BSE will enter the food supply. The Food Safety and

When calves are finished on high-grain diets, a certain amount of suffering is simply taken for granted.

Circle #51; see card pg 129 80 Mother Earth News February/March 2008 An estimated 70 percent of all the antibiotics used in the United States are now being given to healthy animals to improve their growth and performance.

Inspection Service has tightened the regulations about which parts of the ani- mal can be stripped, but the process is not risk free.

Mad Cows and You Japanese health authorities are equally Most of the beef we now consume skeptical about the safety of U.S. beef. comes from cattle that were born after the To protect the health of Japanese citizens, Circle #10; see card pg 129 United States Department of Agriculture they test every animal for BSE, including (USDA) removed the most hazardous the beef imported from the United States. ingredients from cattle feed and banned Many people urge the United States to sensitive beef tissue from the human food adopt the same rigorous standards. chain. Therefore, your risk of vCJD is low- So far, the USDA has refused to ex- er than it was a couple years ago and much tend its testing program, claiming there lower than it was 10 years ago. is no scientific justification for such an For many people, however, these safe- extraordinary measure. It also asserts that guards are not enough. Some maintain wide-scale testing might give the false im- that the USDA is testing too few cattle to pression that the U.S. beef supply is un- get an accurate measure. In other words, safe. To maintain the aura of safety, the if they tested more animals, they’d find USDA prevented individual companies more disease. Another cause for concern from testing their own cattle. (Read more is that BSE has been found in ordinary about this in “Mad Cow Disease: Should meat from sheep, not just the brain, in- the USDA do More?” December 2007/ testines and spinal cord. Some fear that January 2008.) When Creekstone Farms, prions might be found in the steaks and a Kansas cattle company, successfully sued roasts of cattle, as well. the USDA in federal court to be allowed Centralized beef processing magnifies to begin testing for BSE in June 2007, the whatever danger exists. If tissue from just government agency filed an appeal, block- one BSE-infected cow is ground into ing the testing. In an unprecedented move, hamburger and mixed with meat from the USDA has even banned the market- other cattle, tons of meat would be con- ing of BSE test kits, saying that the test taminated. This is what has happened procedures have not received their official many times already with E. coli 0157: approval. Since 2003, dozens of countries H7 contamination. Unlike other food- have issued total or partial bans of U.S. borne diseases, cooking does not destroy beef because of their concerns about mad the prions that cause mad cow disease. cow disease. Some have since been lifted.

82 Mother Earth News February/March 2008 Less Nutritious Too Science, the higher the CLA content of the government to regulate it in the best Mad cow disease, hormone implants their meat. interests of the consumer. In record num- and the excessive use of antibiotics may While we know some of the nutritional bers, people are buying beef from small- dominate the headlines, but there’s an- effects of feeding grain to cattle, no one has scale producers who raise cattle on pasture other problem caused by taking cattle off studied how byproduct feedstuffs affect the and choose not to supplement with grain, grass and fattening them on grain and by- meat. But it is reasonable to assume that a byproduct feed, hormones or antibiot- products: The meat loses nutritional value. steak from a cow that got 30 percent of its ics. These savvy consumers are placing Grass is a richer source of healthy fats and calories from chewing gum will be lower their vote of confidence in beef made the antioxidants than grain, and as a direct in a number of vitamins and healthy fat. old-fashioned way — cows grazing green result, meat from grazing animals has Garbage in; garbage out. grass and growing at their natural pace. more of these nutrients than meat from Learning more about beef and its alter- grain-fed cattle. In a study published in Make my Beef Truly natives is the key to being able to choose the journal Meat Science in 2005, a team of Fresh and Truly Natural healthy, natural beef. Argentinean researchers determined that The beef industry and government regu- grass-fed meat is higher in vitamin C, vita- lators go to great lengths to assure the pub- Jo Robinson is a passionate min E and beta carotene. lic of the safety of the U.S. beef supply. We Omega-3 fatty acids are another vital are told that the meat is inexpensive, safe advocate of grass-fed meat. You nutrient that’s diminished by a feedlot diet. and abundant. The National Cattlemen’s can find pastured beef producers Calves start losing their stores of omega-3s Beef Association, the public policy center near you by searching her Web as soon as they start eating grain. By the for the beef industry, denies that grain-fed site, www.eatwild.com. To learn time they’re ready for market, very little of meat is less nutritious than grass-fed meat, more about the information in this this heart-healthy fat remains. Conjugated and dismisses organic grass-fed beef as a article, consult the list of sources linoleic acid (CLA) is a fat that appears to mere “niche market.” be a potent cancer fighter. CLA is higher Meanwhile, dozens of countries around that appears in conjunction in grazing animals than in feedlot animals. the world and millions of American con- with the online version at www. The longer the animals graze, according to sumers are increasingly skeptical of the MotherEarthNews.com. a study published by the Journal of Animal U.S. beef industry and of the ability of

Circle #39; see card pg 129