By Expat Chef
I quit eating beef for a while. It wasn’t so much the fear of mad cow disease, but more disgust at the idea that ruminant animals who were designed by nature to graze peacefully were fed waste parts of their own species. Breaking the laws of nature has consequences. Cows are not cannibals. The whole feed lot thing was bothersome as well. Live in a pen, get fattened on grain and loaded up on hormones to speed up growth and thus, death. I pondered the whole hormone thing and lifestyle thing when I tasted organic milk versus conventional. Organic was so much better. It was milk. Surely the same must be true for the meat as well.
It all seemed really wrong. Then, I found grass-fed beef. The grocery store here even carries locally farmed and raised organic, grass-fed beef. Steak was back on the table.
Today, however, I got the following rather disturbing email from my Slow Food.org group. It seems the USDA is ready to give a “grass-fed” stamp to cows raised in a feed lot, and given hormones, just as long as they are fed on grass. No pasture, no organic, no natural beef.
The label will no longer mean anything, and consumers will purchase the cheaper “grass fed” meat, while producers who actually raise organic, natural beef will get lost.
We need to stop this. The USDA ruling is open for comment until the 10th of August. Please copy the following email text, add your name and send it to the email address provided if this concerns you as much as it does me.
You can find out more by contacting the slowfood.org folks, the NYT article, or reviewing the proposed labeling for yourself. Addresses are provided below.
SEND TO: marketingclaim@usda.gov
SUBJECT: Docket #LS-05-09
August 7, 2006
To Whom It May Concern:
As a locavore (Eating Local Advocate) and “co-producer” (my buying choices impact agricultural policy and practice), I would like to provide my feedback on the USDA’s published-for-comment grass fed standards, Docket #LS-05-09.
I am pleased that the USDA has chosen to determine production and labeling standards for grass fed animals — beef in particular. I am however deeply concerned that the proposed standard neglects to specify that grass feeding take place outside, on pasture. The proposed rule currently makes no distinction between animals who eat grass on pasture, and animals who are fed harvested grass while in confinement or on a feedlot.
To me, the term grass fed is — and should continue to be — synonymous with animals having free access to pasture and/or range.
The term and label for grass fed should also mean no confinement.
Ultimately, I believe that grass fed should mean animals humanely raised in grass pastures from birth to harvest, the way nature intended.
Please do your part to ensure that the integrity of this definition survives the legislative process. This is absolutely necessary in order to preserve the value of the grass fed label and standard of quality for US consumers, and particularly for the health of my family and local community in City __________, State _______.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
(Your Name)
Resources:
Grass-Fed Rule Angers Farmers by Marian Burros
The New York Times, 7/26/06
The USDA's Proposed Standard:
http://www.ams.usda.gov/lsg/stand/ls0509.txt
You can find the Expat Chef in her kitchen at midnight, chowing on rare steak for hopefully not the last time. Sorry, vegetarians ...
