Many kids think meat comes “from the supermarket,” partly because many adults don’t want to acknowledge that steaks or burgers come from living animals. Yet every single aspect of an animal’s life before it reaches your plate—from the soil that grew its food, to what it ate, to where and how it lived, and even how it died—changes its taste and its impact on your health in tremendous ways. Our relationship with animals that we eat starts long before they reach our plates, and continues long after the meal is done.
Meat is not just meat. When animals eat nutrient-rich plants and live well, they become nourishing food for us. Meat that comes from healthy, responsibly raised animals helps us to fight disease and keep all our parts running the way they should. Grass-fed meat has higher levels of omega-3—the anti-inflammatory fatty acids essential to your skin, gut, immune system, and brain health—than many fish. Cows raised on well-kept pastures contain more micronutrients—like vitamin D and others critical to your health—than grain-fed cows.1 Grass-fed beef is chock-full of B vitamins, carnitine, and minerals like calcium, magnesium, and potassium; grass-fed lamb delivers additional highly absorbable vitamin E; pastured pork boosts selenium, too.
Not every cow, chicken, sheep, or pig is blessed with these healing properties. Just as farming practices affect soil and plant health, animal husbandry affects the nutritional status of animals. So if you’re buying any old chicken or steak, you’re likely not optimally benefiting from these foods. In fact, most of the animal products served and sold in this country are actually unhealthy. Not healthy for us to consume directly, and not healthy for the natural world.
When I learned as a teenager how animals are raised for meat, I became a vegetarian until well into my 20s. Eventually I returned to eating meat when pregnant with my first because my body screamed for it—but in the following years, I had to find a way for me, my children, and my patients to eat meat from healthy animals who had died in as humane a way as possible. Finding pastured, conscientiously raised meat (because I only eat kosher meat) turned out to be nearly impossible. I called growers, businesses, and food-to-farm nonprofits, and ultimately I organized a “mindful meat” co-op. I spent hours driving to meet producers who cared for livestock humanely and slaughtered them compassionately. I visited slaughterhouses and observed when the animals were butchered. It was an unexpected crash course in the tough business of raising animals for meat.
Though I no longer run my co-op, I’ve saved the coveralls I wore while standing on the kill floor. It was an intense and oddly paradoxical experience. As a physician, my life’s work is to support life; the entire purpose of the kill floor is to end it. The first time I watched an animal turn from “cattle” to “meat,” I couldn’t imagine eating it. In the end, I did. As it turned out, eating that meat was unlike any other meal I’d eaten. The steer and I had formed a sacred connection—he had given his life to sustain mine, and I was able to deeply honor his sacrifice and feel gratitude because I had been present for the process. But I also ate less meat as a result of my experience. It became more precious.
It’s important to know more about the animals you eat for your own sake and your child’s sake. As you will see, it matters—ethically, nutritionally, environmentally, and experientially (i.e., it tastes better). Asking questions before you buy—“Where does the chicken come from?” “What did the pig eat?” “How was the cow slaughtered?”—can be the difference between eating food that nourishes us on all levels and food that damages our bodies, planet, and collective consciousness.
HEALTHY ANIMALS, HEALTHY HUMANS
Eating animals can be healthy if the animal is raised in a healthy way. Ideally, a pregnant cow births her calf and nurses him for the better part of a year. During that time, the calf will supplement his diet with a grass salad bar—clover, alfalfa, and other diverse native grasses—rotating through a series of pastures to get the most nutrient-dense food possible. Cows that pace the same paddock day after day are not getting the diverse nutrition that they need. Rotating pastures for grazing allows the manure to fertilize the soil, allows the soil to recover, and recharges nutrients and microbes, which enable more diverse grasses and plants to grow. In such a system, the grazed pasture is greener and lusher. And all those vibrant grasses steeped in rich, microbial soil are supercharged with nutrients for that cow, her calf, her milk, and, in turn, us. Moreover, cows’ sensory systems help them find what their bodies need. For instance, an animal that has a high demand for sulfur is more likely to eat mustard plants or plants with yellow flowers, which tend to be high in sulfur.2 That’s the innate brilliance of animals and nature!
How can a calf gain well over a thousand pounds just on grasses? Cows (also sheep, buffalo, and goats) are ruminants equipped with multipart stomachs that break down grass with the help of dense populations of microorganisms. Just as with soil—and our own guts—this cow microbiome is critical for turning food into calories and nutrients. Optimally, the ruminant subsists on grass and very little grain. In the winter when grass is scarce, a calf might eat mostly hay (often fermented for improved digestibility and increased sugar availability) with daily treats of grain to help him grow. But on an all-grain diet, the calf’s beneficial microbes wane, while not-so-healthy ones thrive.
In simplest terms, animals that eat grass are healthier, which ultimately makes their meat and even fat deeply nourishing for us. I call this the Rumpelstiltskin Effect, or “How Pastured Animals Spin ‘Straw’ into Gold.” More specifically, grass-fed meats:
• Have a lower fat content.3 They can have the same amount of fat as skinless chicken breast, wild deer, or elk. Lean beef actually lowers so-called bad LDL cholesterol levels. One USDA study compared grass-fed lambs with feedlot lambs fed grain, and found that pastured lambs had 14 percent less fat and 8 percent more protein. (The researchers also mentioned that pastured sheep will “benefit our economy by reducing reliance upon expensive grain supplements.”)
• Have more beneficial fats. Cattle that eat grass have more omega-3 fatty acids than their grain-fed counterparts in spite of lower overall fat content. And people who eat grass-fed beef have higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids than those who don’t. One study in the British Journal of Nutrition showed that eating moderate amounts of grass-fed meat for only four weeks boosted levels of omega-3 fatty acids and decreased levels of pro-inflammatory omega-6s. Meanwhile, those who consumed conventional, grain-fed meat ended up with the opposite ratio, promoting a pro-inflammatory state.4 In the appropriate ratio with other essential fats, omega-3 fatty acids lower risks of ADHD, cancer, learning disabilities, and mental illness.
• Have higher levels of natural trans fats. Robust science shows that industrial trans fats are absolutely damaging to our health, but natural trans fats from ruminants—like conjugated linolenic acid (CLA) and vaccenic acid (VA)—are actually beneficial.5 Indeed, CLA is a potent defense against cancer. In laboratory animals, a very small percentage of CLA—a mere 0.1 percent of total calories—greatly reduced tumor growth.6 Switching from grain-fed to grass-fed meat and dairy products lowered women’s risk for breast cancer by 60 percent compared to those with the lowest level of CLA.7 You may be able to lower your risk of cancer simply by eating three servings of pastured products daily: an egg; whole-fat milk, yogurt, or cheese; meat or meat fat. You’d have to eat five times that amount of grain-fed meat and dairy products to get the same protection.8
• Have significantly more micronutrients. Because pastured cows have eaten high amounts of phytochemicals from pasture,9 they pass along those benefits to us. Necessary nutrients—even fat-soluble vitamins A and E—are uniformly higher in pastured cows than grain-fed, in spite of their lower fat content. The meat from pastured cattle had four times the amount of vitamin E than the meat from feedlot cattle—and almost twice as much as feedlot cows given a vitamin E supplement. Sheep that consumed grass had twice as much lutein—a highly absorbable form of vitamin E—in their meat than their grain-fed counterparts.10 Pigs raised on pasture, too, have higher vitamin E and selenium compared with feedlot pigs supplemented with synthetic vitamins.11
THE REAL DIRT ON MEAT
The meat industry has devoted itself to shortening the time from calf to burger, piglet to pork chop, and egg to drumstick to increase profit. Instead of raising animals well, they force us to sacrifice our physical health, environmental health, and compassion in favor of their financial health.
By six months of age, a calf born into a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO)—where more than 50 billion food animals are raised and slaughtered each year12—joins the one hundred thousand steer crammed into tiny stalls with open sewers and a stench that travels for miles. A calf has 14 months to reach 1,300 pounds, the ideal weight for slaughter. That’s not much time—and not even close to how nature works—so he needs help. He’s primarily fed corn, which is compact, portable, has a long shelf life, and is one of our country’s largest subsidized crops (our tax dollars go to help big agriculture grow corn; it’s now cheaper to buy corn than it is to grow it). Corn (usually GMO) is also calorie-dense, but growing it uses a lot of energy because it uses tons of fertilizers, pesticides, and 1.2 gallons of oil for every bushel. Cattle are also fed gallons of liquefied fat (sourced from slaughterhouse refuse, including other cattle) and protein supplements in cattle-feed “milkshakes,” delivered by tanker trucks, along with liquid vitamins, synthetic estrogen, corn “enhanced” with protein (usually GMO soy), and drugs (including regular doses of antibiotics and growth hormones). A calf may receive some dried alfalfa and hay for roughage, “feather meal”—ground-up chickens, bones, feathers, and all, including some manure—and old bakery goods, candy, and chewing gum with the wrappers still on. If you don’t believe me, check out the study showing that chewing gum could comprise 30 percent of a cow’s diet “without obvious ill effects.”13 After all, sugar is just sugar and all carbohydrates are created equal, right?
There’s just one problem: Cows aren’t built to eat corn or grain or chewing gum. Though consumers have grown to like and even expect the fat marbling of corn-fed meat, the result is an unhealthy animal, and in turn, an unhealthy human. Research suggests that many of the health problems associated with eating meat are really problems associated with eating sick animals fed corn and other grains. Most studies investigating the impact of red meat on our health use grain-fed, CAFO-raised meat. Just as ruminants have not evolved to eat grain, humans have not adapted to eating grain-fed animals.
GMOs: Bad for Animals?
For three years, a Danish pig farmer fed his pigs ordinary, non–genetically modified soy. When he ran out, he bought the less expensive GM soy. His herdsmen didn’t know anything had changed, but they immediately noticed that the pigs lost their appetites and the piglets developed diarrhea. Worse, more and more pigs began to be born with birth defects—one missing an ear, one with a large hole in its skull, a female born with testes. To understand why this was happening, the farmer euthanized 38 of the deformed pigs and had them tested for glyphosate, the herbicide used in Roundup. The samples of lung, liver, kidney, brain, gut wall, heart, and muscle all tested highly positive.14 This is just the story of one farmer. Other such stories exist, as does a growing body of concerning research.15,16,17,18,19 Further rigorous research must be done to evaluate the impact of GMOs and toxic contaminants on livestock health, and how that translates to human health.
Cows fed too much grain or corn develop illnesses like “feedlot bloat.” The rumen—which in a healthy animal is filled with microbes to ferment grasses—usually produces copious amounts of gas, normally expelled by belching. But a diet with too much starch and too little roughage traps gas. The rumen inflates like a balloon, pressing against the animal’s lungs. Unless a worker relieves the pressure (usually by forcing a hose down the animal’s esophagus), the cow suffocates.
Corn-fed cattle can also develop an unnaturally acidic—rather than pH neutral—rumen. Though this condition can be fatal, the cow more commonly experiences diarrhea, ulcers, bloat, liver disease, and weakened immunity, leaving the animal vulnerable to diseases ranging from pneumonia to feedlot polio. As acids eat away at the rumen wall, bacteria enter the bloodstream and collect in the liver, which becomes abscessed. Many feedlot cattle have abscessed livers at slaughter.
The major reason that feedlot animals don’t die under these conditions is because they are given copious doses of antibiotics. More than two thirds of all antibiotics sold in America are used in animal feed.This practice has led directly to the evolution of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs.” As a pediatrician, I was taught to scold parents who asked to treat their children’s viruses with antibiotics, warning them of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Yet livestock ingest 80 percent of the antibiotics sold in the United States to preempt illness, without a word from the powers that be.
As a result, nearly half the meat and poultry sold in the United States is likely to be contaminated by highly dangerous microbes of our own making. A recent study estimated that 47 percent of meat and poultry on U.S. supermarket shelves contains the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, which is not one of the four bacteria—Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli, and Enterococcus—the U.S. government routinely tests for in meat.20 In 136 samples from 80 brands of beef, pork, chicken, and turkey purchased from 26 grocery stores in five major U.S. cities, DNA tests from staph-infected samples suggest that the farm animals themselves were the major source of contamination. The report states that “densely stocked industrial farms, where food animals are steadily fed low doses of antibiotics . . . [are] ideal breeding grounds for drug-resistant bacteria that move from animals to humans.” These bacteria are linked to a number of human diseases and are also resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics. Indeed, a 2013 report by the CDC found that more than two million Americans a year develop bacterial infections resistant to antibiotics, which kill at least 23,000 annually.21
These drugs are also linked to the obesity epidemic and obesity-related diseases. Within seven weeks, mice regularly subjected to low doses of antibiotics—like cows, pigs, and chickens on CAFOs—had shifted microbial composition in their guts and had gained 10 to 15 percent more fat mass than controls.22 Antibiotics administered to livestock—and passed on to us—target bacteria that digest carbohydrates that we otherwise couldn’t digest. (Carb sensitivity, anyone?)
The newly acidic digestive tract of feedlot cows has fostered acid-resistant strains of E. coli (like the deadly 0157) that survive our stomach acids—and can kill us. By acidifying a cow’s gut with corn, we’ve disrupted one of our food chain’s major barriers to infection. One study showed that one of three cattle is contaminated with these acid-resistant E. coli, but grass-fed animals had so few acid-resistant bacteria that the number didn’t even register. Simply switching a cow’s diet from corn to hay in the days before slaughter could reduce the E. coli 0157 in manure by as much as 70 percent, but most CAFOs won’t voluntarily risk their bottom line in this way just to improve public health.
The industry instead focuses on disinfecting the manure that will inevitably find its way into meat, rather than altering the animals’ diet, preventing them from standing day and night in their own contaminated waste or even slowing the rapid speed of the industrial kill floor to prevent that waste from splashing the meat. Instead, the industry uses irradiation (or as they say “cold pasteurization”) that passes carcasses through a hot steam cabinet and finally sprays them with an antimicrobial solution before they’re hung in a cooler.
The same goes for chicken. The European Union takes issue with the standard U.S. practice of washing poultry carcasses in chlorinated water to kill bacteria. It has banned the import of all U.S. poultry since 1997 because it’s not convinced that it’s safe to ingest the chlorine that remains on the meat, not to mention concerns that it masks unclean processing of animals. E.U. agriculture ministers repeatedly have voted to continue the ban despite aggressive pressure from the United States, concluding it would “threaten the community’s entire set of food production standards.”23
And as recently as 2013, chickens, turkeys, and pigs were administered arsenic-containing drugs to prevent disease and promote growth.24 The FDA finally tested one hundred chickens who had been administered the drug and found arsenic levels in all of their livers. Their arsenic-laced manure subsequently was used as fertilizer, which contaminated other food, like rice and apples! After decades of data showing that arsenic is toxic, the FDA finally banned three out of four of these commonly used drugs. (The last, Nitarsone, is still used in turkeys.)
Lastly, consider that growth hormones are also administered to factory-farmed animals in the United States. Each calf receives a synthetic estrogen implant behind its ear to enhance growth by 40 to 50 extra pounds. This is banned in the European Union, but American regulatory agencies permit hormone implants because “no risk to human health has been proven yet,” even though they admit measurable residues do turn up in the meat (especially the fat) we eat.25 Pigs, too, may receive hormones—not for growth, but to regulate fertility and sometimes induce abortion.26 These contribute to the buildup of estrogenic compounds in the environment, which some scientists believe contributes to falling sperm counts in boys and premature maturation in girls. Industry and regulatory agencies say that many of these hormones are naturally found in our bodies. However, the relationship between our bodies and sex hormones we ourselves produce is tightly orchestrated; minute differences in these levels can have a tremendous health impact—especially during fetal development, childhood, and adolescence. Moreover, recent studies have found persistent levels of synthetic growth hormones in feedlot waste, which eventually wind up in the waterways downstream of feedlots where fish exhibit abnormal sex characteristics.
A Happy Meal
Aside from the ethical dilemmas of eating mistreated animals, meat from stressed or sick animals doesn’t taste as good as humanely raised meat. When cattle go to slaughter, they may have a long, cramped ride from the farm and may be kept for days in an uncomfortable lot with stressful sounds, sights, and smells, without food or drink. Their trip to the slaughter floor may be frightening. Even industry knows a deeply stressed animal will have tough “dark meat” due to surges of adrenaline and cortisol in its system. We eat these elevated stress hormones from slaughter when we eat its meat, literally ingesting its stress.27
Humans inhabit the same hormonal, microbial, and spiritual terrain as the animals we eat. What we do to them, we do to ourselves. What they become, we become. Whether we consciously know it, what happens to them also happens to us. We incorporate our ethics into our bodies and our children’s bodies. When an animal lives and dies horribly, we taste it. When it lives and dies peacefully, we taste that, too. By restricting yourself to eating animals that have been raised humanely and treated well from the beginning to the end of life, you are supporting not just a compassionate and healthier system for animals, but healthier children.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We can reduce this pressure on our fellow creatures, our planet, and our consciousness. We can put a stop to an industrialized, fossil fuel–driven method of raising animals and return them to their natural place. Ruminants need little more to survive and thrive than mineral-dense wild forage in rich soil; clean, fresh water; sunshine; and protection in extreme weather. It’s the ultimate solar-powered system. Animals transport themselves to the tastiest, best grass. They don’t need super-size GMO smoothies or antibiotics. Healthy ruminant manure is the ideal fertilizer, resulting in naturally enriched soil that grows healthy, nutrient-dense plants. Everything they need is right at their feet (or hooves).
Meat: A Buyer’s Guide
Because almost all ruminants start on grass, anyone can label meat “grass-fed.” Words like “natural,” “free-range,” “grass-fed,” or “fresh” are used to mislead consumers. CAFO producers are always hoping to grab part of the market of people looking for healthy, ethically raised meat, so their misleading labels are designed to gloss over the other 99 percent of the picture. The healthiest cows, lambs, or goats have been fed minimal or no grain, as in less than 10 percent during winter months. But ruminants should eat minimal wheat, corn, soy, barley, and absolutely no animal by-products. To learn more about different certification standards, check out Consumer Reports’s www.greenerchoices.org/eco-labels.
Here are the kinds of words to look for on labels:
100% grass-fed
Grass-fed and finished
100% pastured
Pasture-fed and finished
Ultimately, look for the meaningful FoodAlliance.org certification, which ascertains that the producer raises animals to the health and humane standards outlined here.
NOTE: Chicken and pigs are omnivores. While they may eat a variety of other foods, they should spend time foraging in pasture and dirt—so knowing they are pastured is just as important, along with USDA organic certification for their feed.
Certified Humane
The Certified Humane label means that the farms raising the animals for meat, eggs, or dairy met the Humane Farm Animal Care program’s standards, which aim to improve humane living conditions and humane treatment during transportation and slaughter. Certified Humane standards also require prudent antibiotic use and prohibit artificial growth hormones and animal by-products in animal feed. They do permit beak trimming and filing the teeth of piglets. Also, the label does not mean that chickens and pigs go outdoors, or that beef cattle and dairy cows have continuous access to pasture for grazing.
Organic
One hundred percent grass-finished animals may not need an organic certification if they consume only forage, aren’t treated with antibiotics, and the fields are not treated with herbicides or chemical fertilizers. On the other hand, “organic” does not mean that the animal lived outside or on pasture, or that it had an opportunity to forage. It does not mean that the animals lived in a herd and were able to have natural social interactions, and it does not mean that the animals weren’t unduly stressed. But it does mean that its feed was free of pesticides, chemicals, hormones, and antibiotics. Sometimes pigs or chickens given opportunities to forage may not earn an organic label because the farmer couldn’t afford to meet all the requirements of organic. Demeter Biodynamic is among the highest standards of certification, including organic, humane treatment, and soil and land stewardship.
Your best bet is to know your producer. Ask questions—don’t assume that images of pastured animals mean that the animals don’t spend the last few months of their lives in feedlots eating GM feed. In all cases, misleading labels become less relevant when you’re certifying the meat yourself! Buying in bulk—and stashing extra in the freezer—minimizes trips to the farm/market and usually means you pay less by eliminating the middleman. Some farms offer a CSA meat share, and sometimes people share a large animal, splitting a pig, lamb, or cow two, four, or more ways. I strongly encourage taking at least one trip to visit your producer’s farm (arrange it in advance—don’t just show up and interrupt farmers’ busy routines!).
A Note on Cost
There’s no denying it: Industrial meat is cheaper than grass-fed meat. But this is largely because the U.S. government subsidizes this system with our tax dollars. Moreover, what is at face value less expensive comes at a huge cost to individual health and public health. The price doesn’t account for food poisoning by E. coli, antibiotic resistance, environmental costs of industrial farming, or chronic illnesses that result from grain-fed meats or their pesticide and hormonal residues. In the end, it’s not less expensive. We only pay a small part of the real price of this meat at the store; we pay the rest through our taxes and sick care.
There is an old saying, “Pay the farmer now, or pay the doctor later.” You get a lot more for your money with grass-fed beef. Not only are you voting with your wallet for ethical and humane practices, but you are better nourished by every part of the animal, from meat to fat to bone, putting money in your body’s proverbial bank account. And grass-fed beef has lower water content than factory-farmed meat, therefore it shrinks less when cooked and browns more deeply and flavorfully. Many people find that it actually takes less grass-fed meat to satisfy their appetite.
Another way to lower cost is through “meatless Mondays.” This movement aims to lower meat consumption overall and to get us off of the destructive treadmill of industrial meat. I support eating less meat, as a way to eliminate both the demand for CAFO meat and the resulting health and environmental impact. To that end, remember meat need not be the centerpiece of every nighttime meal—try reimagining dinners with vegetables as the centerpiece and meat on the side. It can still be filling and exceptionally delicious. Less is more.
YOU Make a Difference
Antibiotic-free beef, pork, and chicken accounted for only 5 percent of the meat sold in the United States five years ago, but that’s been quickly changing. In 2013, sales of antibiotic-free chicken alone rose 34 percent, for example, and producers took notice. In response to consumer demand, some of the largest producers have begun amending their practices. Companies like Tyson, Perdue, and Cargill are phasing out the use of antibiotics and cramped “gestation stalls” for pregnant sows (albeit slowly). Are they doing it because the FDA demanded they stop? No! It’s because people like you are sending a strong message: with dollars and cents.
TAKE HOME
1. The animals you eat should graze outdoors on pasture (except in coldest winter), with sources of shade in the summer, in places where land is cared for, and should be fed non-GMO, organic feed when needed.
2. Meat that’s certified organic or biodynamic and 100 percent pasture-raised reduces your child’s exposure to hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, arsenic, and other additives used in factory farming. NOTE:Organic alone doesn’t always mean pasture-fed or that animals are treated humanely.
3. Use all parts of pastured animals for food: meat, fat, cartilage, and bones for broth, and in some animals, skin. Eating organ meats like liver and pancreas (or giblets in chicken) offer the densest nutrition of any part of the animal. Baking chicken skin renders fat for future use, and leaves a crispy snack that kids love. Nose-to-tail cooking, as it’s called, is more economical and sustainable as well as delicious and healthy. To me, it also honors the animal’s sacrifice to use every part so nothing is wasted.
4. Cook grass-fed steaks or burgers at high temperature only briefly so they won’t dry out. A tenderizing tool can help. Note that high-heat cooking and charring of meat (or fish) lead to the production of heterocyclic amines (HCAs) that can cause cancer. Quickly grill or broil thinner cuts to remain bright pink/red on the inside, but keep it as a treat.
5. Slow cooking larger roasts and tougher cuts at low temperatures renders them tender and flavorful and is the healthiest way to eat meat.
6. Consider Meatless Mondays: Eat less meat each week in exchange for making the meat you eat the highest quality.