Often times when I'm conversing with people about meat consumption, one of the first things they will tell me is that they only eat "grass-fed, pasture raised, humane, all natural, etc." meat. While this is a good sign that people are at least considering the well-being of the animals they're eating, I wonder how much information they actually have about these labels and their regulations, or lack thereof. It's also important to note that only 2% of meat falls into these categories. Most of the meat you see at the grocery store or in restaurants comes from factory farms, and even the least concerned or aware meat eaters know that nothing humane happens on a factory farm.
Even after years of being meat-free and doing extensive research into farming methods and how we actually get meat, I just recently came across the regulations behind these feel good labels. I always had a sneaking suspicion that they were merely there to ease the conscience of the consumer, and it turns out this is indeed the case. With more and more people waking up to the horrific realities of raising animals for food, the industry needed some way to make us feel good about doing the wrong thing. But how much does the USDA actually regulate these farms? What is required to label your meat "grass-fed" or "all natural"? Surely these farms are checked on a regular basis, or at least even once? After all, you're paying more for these "higher quality, healthier, more ethical" meats. Read on for the requirements for each label.
1. Free Range
Free range actually has no regulatory definition. This label can be obtained with just the farm owner's testimony. There is no inspection or oversight. Free range animals are meant to have "access to the outdoors". This can mean that 30,000 birds are crammed into a dark cramped warehouse, with what is essentially a doggy door leading to a 4x4 slab of cement. There is no provision for how much time they are allowed to spend outside, or how much room they must be provided with to do so. This label also means nothing in terms of how the animal is treated, or what they consume.
2. Grass Fed
Grass Fed also has no official definition (the USDA dropped it's definition last year, due to "not having the authority to define and determine whether grass-fed claims are truthful and not misleading".) Ideally, a grass-fed animal will have had a majority of it's diet from grass. This means that in the last months of their life, they're still fattened up with corn or soy. There are no regulations on their time outdoors, and they're still pumped full of antibiotics and other pharmaceutics. This label can also be obtained on farmer's testimony alone. Now that the USDA has dropped it's official definition, it's extremely difficult to ensure that the expensive meat you're buying is truly 100% grass-fed.
3. Humanely Raised
There is no legal definition of humanely raised meat. Again the USDA will often approve this label based on the farmer's word alone, with absolutely no regulation. The farms are left to decide what they consider to be humane. This label is meaningless and intentionally deceptive.
4. Cage Free
Cage free actually means what it says. The birds are not in cages. However they are still crammed by the thousands into a windowless warehouse with 1 square foot of space per bird. They have no access to the outdoors. They are still painfully debeaked, and are bred to grow so quickly many of them can no longer walk. The warehouses have no ventilation. Therefore ammonia builds up in the air, leading to "ammonia burn" in the eyes and throats of the birds. Hence why workers wear masks and goggles in cage free operations.
5. Local
Local meat can still come from a factory farm. Meaning the animals can still be fed additive-laced feed and live in deplorable conditions. It has no relevance to the ethical standard of the meat. There is no law on the mileage the farm must be within to be considered local. There is also nothing stopping farmers from buying animals from factory farms and then selling the meat as "local". There is merely another label to give consumers a false sense of ethics or health consciousness. Of course there are people who truly live local to a farm. They may know the farmer and even the animals, although this is the exception, not the rule, and still doesn't result in a healthy, ethical, or sustainable product.
6. Family farmed
Again, there is no legal definition. This means a "family farm" can actually be a large industrial agribusiness. There is (of course) no regulation when it comes to the treatment of the animal or the food/drugs they consume. This is another "feel good" label that means absolutely nothing.
7. Natural
A natural label refers only to what is added after the animal is dead. They can still live in intense confinement, and can be fed garbage (literally), manure, antibiotics, and hormones. Doesn't sound very natural to me.
8. Certified Organic
Certified Organic meat must come from an animal that ate organic feed, however there can still be colorants or other additives added after death. They cannot be fed pharmaceutics (also this can backfire as it applies even if the animal is sick). They must have "access to the outdoors", although we know how meaningless that term can be. There is no regulation on the animal's welfare. While this is one label that actually has a few rules, only 2% of eggs, 2% of dairy, and less than 1% of meat is processed as Certified Organic.
9. Certified Humane
Certified Humane is the only label that actually takes animal welfare into consideration. To obtain this label dairy cows must be allowed 4 hours per day in pasture. No battery cages or gestation crates are allowed. Pigs must have bedding and hens must have litter to dust bathe in. However, animals are still castrated, branded, debeaked, and have their tails docked and ears notched, all with no anesthetic or painkillers. Birds and pigs are not allowed any access to the outdoors. Newborn babies are still taken from their mothers in every dairy operation, and cattle are left to stand in mud and their own waste. The end result is still an early death. Pigs are killed at 6 months vs their average 9 year life span, cows at 2-5 years rather than 20-25, and chickens at just 42 days old in comparison to the 6 years they would have lived otherwise.
Most everyone will say they are against factory farming. For many this is why they seek out these more "humane" food products. However, spending your money on even the most seemingly ethical products still contributes funding to the industries that support factory farming. Your money still goes to the same vets, hatcheries, workers, slaughterhouses, etc. as these are shared by most farms across the board.
Even in "alternative" meat production, painful practices like branding, castration, tooth filing, debeaking, detoeing, tail docking, and ear notching are commonplace. The animals are still transported long distances in semi trucks with no food, water, or rest for up to three days. Many arrive sick or dead. Transport leads to bruising, suffocation, heart failure, heat stroke, dehydration, and exhaustion. They all end up in the same place. They take a bolt gun to the head, have their throats slit, and are hung upside down to bleed out. Or they're hung by their feet, shocked with electric water before being dunked into scalding hot water, many while still conscious. (Poultry is exempt from the Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act.) Or they're gassed to death, and burn from the inside out in a slow painful process where it takes minutes for them to die. As you can probably tell, these methods are far from "humane". The only concern is yielding enough "food" to meet the high demand. You cannot have a viable business model and avoid the inherent cruelties present in the production of animal products.
For those more concerned with their own health than that of the animal's, it's important to note that none of these "alternative farms" are providing healthy products. Most animal products contain the usual concoction of growth hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, additives, and other toxins. Even those that don't are still naturally high in cholesterol and saturated fat. (One egg has
double the cholesterol of a Big Mac.) The World Health Organization has already classified every processed meat as carcinogenic to the human body in the same group as cigarettes. This means without a doubt products like sausage, bacon, ham, salami, pepperoni, jerky, and deli meats are giving us cancer, no question. Red meat is labeled as "likely carcinogenic", which is reason enough to stay away. Chicken is our number one dietary source of sodium and cholesterol. A majority of the world's population is lactose intolerant. Clearly, these products are not doing our bodies any favors. A plant based diet is the only diet that can prevent, treat, or even reverse 14 of the 15 leading causes of death.
We're also looking at products that are completely unsustainable from an environmental standpoint. Animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gas emissions than our entire transportation sector (that is every car, plane, train, boat, etc. combined). Then there is the deforestation to raise feed and graze cattle, the methane and nitrous oxide from the manure and wet waste, the fossil fuel to make the feed fertilizer, energy from the slaughter and processing plants, and the soil erosion from overgrazing. Within the farms/processing plants themselves are the conveyer belts, milking machines, lighting, heating, and the highly mechanized slaughter process. Then of course there is the animal transport from the farm to the auction to the slaughterhouse to processing and finally to the supermarket/restaurant. All of these resources are being used on such a grand scale, our planet cannot possibly keep up. We simply don't have the land or water to graze or grow feed for 56 billion animals annually, especially when the payoff is such a small amount of food. We could instead use that land to grow plant food for humans. If distributed properly, we could feed the countless people who are starving in every nation.
If you are a consumer looking to make a healthier, more ethical, or more sustainable food choice, consider staying away from the meat, dairy, and egg sections of your supermarket. The truly ethical and humane choice is the one that improves the wellbeing of animals, humans, and the environment. After all, the word humane means to show compassion.
For more information about animal products and the animal agriculture industry, check out documentaries like; Cowspiracy, What the Health, Forks Over Knives, and Earthlings. For more information on transitioning to a plant based diet, you can join a
22 day challenge and receive your own mentor, or get your vegan starter kit
here.
Photos by Sammantha Fisher
@sfisherx
SammanthaFisher.com
