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You Are What You Eat
Cruelty-free Meat Offers Taste, Health Benefits
We've all chuckled at the stories of kids who think that
milk comes from a carton, instead of from a cow, or who are
dismayed to discover that their hotdog used to be a pig. But
the sad truth is that most people in the United States these
days are generally unaware of where their food is from and
how it is produced. Does it matter, you may ask? It does if
you want the tastiest, healthiest food for you and your
family.
America boasts the most efficient food production systems in
the world. But are food companies producing the best food
for us? That depends on your criteria. Since the end of
World War II, America has had a cheap food policy. While
that's been good for our pocketbooks, it may not ultimately
be what's good for us, our livestock, and the nation.
According to Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, author of "Physiologie
du Gout," one of the most famous books on gastronomy, "The
destiny of a nation depends on the manner in which it feeds
itself." We might be in trouble.
Let's take a look at meat. Most of the meat in supermarkets
today is produced through an industrialized process. Hogs
are raised in confinement operations, also known as factory
farms. The hogs in these operations are considered "inputs,"
not animals. There may be as many as 10,000 hogs in a
facility. These poor piggies never see the light of day, are
fed a regular diet of antibiotics and growth hormones, and
their waste is stored in lagoons which are ultimately
poisoning our ground water.
Beef cattle are generally put into feedlots as soon as they
are weaned from their mothers. These feedlots have been
described as "premodern cities … crowded, filthy and
stinking, with open sewers, unpaved roads and choking air,"
by Michael Pollan in The New York Times. The goal at the
feedlot is to fatten the cows as quickly and cost
effectively as possible. In the feedlot, the cattle are fed
a steady diet of antibiotics and growth hormones, in part
because of these crowded conditions and because the drugs
enable the animals to get to market sooner.
Is it bad for us to eat meat produced in such a manner? The
jury is out on this one. It is a fact that we are breeding a
resistance to antibiotics and so when we really need them to
fight an infection, they may no longer be effective. But the
residual impact on our bodies is anecdotal at this point.
Health implications aside, meat produced by factory farming
methods simply doesn't taste as good as meat from happy,
healthy animals. Better treatment makes better-tasting meat.
If given the choice (not to mention a blind taste test),
most consumers would probably choose pork from a pig fed hay
and grains rather than from a pig fattened on hormones.
You may have to look beyond your local supermarket to find
alternatives to industrialized meat. Try shopping at the
nearest co-op or health food store. If the stores in your
area do not offer cruelty-free meat products, ask them to
start doing so. One brand to look for is Niman Ranch. Their
hogs are raised on family farms in the Midwest, are never
fed antibiotics or hormones and are raised outdoors or in
deeply bedded pens.
Cattle from Niman Ranch are raised on pasture until they are
more than a year old and then are moved to low-density
feedlots and fed hay and grains to enhance flavor and
texture. The cattle are never fed subtherapeutic antibiotics
or hormones. If they should become ill, they are treated but
are not reintegrated into the herd until twice the
manufacturer's withdrawal period. The company also offers
hormone- and antibiotic-free lamb.
There have been many stories in the media lately about the
state of our meat industry --feedlot production, grass fed
versus grain fed, the surreptitious changing of date codes
in the supermarkets. Perhaps to be healthy as a nation and
as a people, we need to ask more questions about where our
food is from and how it is produced.
For more information on Niman Ranch ranch products, visit
the company's on-line market, www.nimanranch.com,
which offers a full line of fresh meat.
Courtesy of ARA Content
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