Does Whole Foods Sell Grass Fed Beef
If y'all're looking for a peachy steak these days, you're not but looking for succulence but also a piece of meat with premium diet that didn't come from an animal-abusing, earth-polluting factory farm.
Grass fed beef, from animals that but grazed on grass their entire lives, is unique because it provides all of these qualities in every cut. This is why the market for grass fed beef has been soaring with double-digit growth over the past several years, co-ordinate to industry sources.
So, while information technology'south notwithstanding uncommon, grass fed beef is easier than ever to observe in grocery stores. All the same, the premium price for beefiness in the grass fed market, which reached $480 meg this year, means that some marketers are labeling their product as "grass fed" when it really isn't. Short of going to the farm yourself, how are you supposed to know what'south existent and what's non?
Fortunately, at that place are unproblematic ways to cut through the marketing balderdash. Hither'due south what you need to know next fourth dimension you lot're shopping for a grass fed rib-eye.
What Grass Fed Actually Means And Why
Genuine, grass fed beef comes from animals that lived on pasture, foraging on nada just grasses, from birth to harvest. According to the strict standards of the American Grassfed Association , which offers a certification program for producers, that's the principal requirement.
Simple, right? But the beef supply organization gets complicated. You come across, almost every animal raised for beef is grass fed for most of its life. Only it's the concluding few months, the stage chosen "finishing," that makes a deviation.
Nearly all beefiness cattle in the U.Southward. ― 95% ― are finished on rations that include food waste, silage and grains in feedlots known as full-bodied animal feeding operations. The remaining 5% of grass fed cattle remain on pasture eating fresh or stored grasses. The American Grassfed Association discounts difficult numbers about the size and value of the grass fed market place because no one tracks "authentic all-grass fed all the time" versus beef labeled "grass fed," according to executive director Carrie Balkcom.
Trouble is, there is no federal government standard or enforcement for any grass fed characterization. On peak of that, most of the grass fed beefiness sold at Walmart and other major chains is imported from Commonwealth of australia, Uruguay or other countries, but may all the same be labeled product of the USA. It's hard to know what you lot're getting.
Instead of drilling into the meaning of every label, allow's focus on the large moving picture first. Grass fed beef is all nearly the grass. When cattle eat only native forages, they upcycle the nutrients, including omega 3 essential fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid, and antioxidants like beta-carotene and vitamin E. Grain fed cattle ― fifty-fifty certified Angus and wagyu ― don't.
Another disquisitional departure is that cattle raised for the grass fed market place graze . Since they're not in feedlots, they get regular practise that results in leaner, firmer beef. They also spend their lives living, well, like cattle, without contributing every bit much to the major wellness, land and water impacts of factory farming.
Finally, since it takes more state and more time, grass fed beef costs more than, which yous see in store prices that are most lxx% higher than for regular beef. Information technology is this combination of surging popularity and market opportunity that results in rampant sales of "fake" grass fed beef.
Grass Fed Isn't Always 100% Grass Fed
Portland, Oregon, butcher Camas Davis told HuffPost that she commonly sees beef advertised as grass fed in the supermarket, when she knows it'southward grain finished.
"I know because I ever ask," Davis said. She is the founder of The Skillful Meat Projection, offering butcher and slaughter workshops to assist people learn how meat gets to their tables. "If they're not saying it'due south 100% grass fed, I well-nigh ever assume that it's grain finished," she said.
Davis doesn't think the labels are intentionally misleading, merely rather that there'due south a lot of misunderstanding. "I think a lot of times the grass fed label is thought of past producers and consumers to mean animals just roaming around in grass," she said.
How prevalent is beef mislabeling in the grass fed world? Information technology's "hard to say for sure," said Balkcom of the American Grassfed Association. The group has obtained reports of misleading labels from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Balkcom said information technology appears "a very large number" of grass fed claims are deceptive.
The grass fed characterization is "ill-defined and open up to abuse," says a 2017 report past Stone Barns Eye for Food and Agriculture, a nonprofit that promotes sustainable agriculture. The report points out that some cattle that spend only half their lives on pasture can qualify as grass fed, as exercise cattle that live on pasture full time and are fed grains during finishing. Information technology cites the egregious example of a grass fed merits for feedlot cattle that were fed grass pellets.
How To Avert Ownership 'Simulated' Grass Fed Beef
Manufacture experts warn consumers against trusting whatever grass fed label that is not backed by a third-political party certification. American Grassfed Association'due south certification, for example, includes a stringent definition. Like other certification programs, notwithstanding, it is voluntary for producers. The group A Greener World too has a Certified Grassfed standard that guarantees the animals are grass fed and are raised with higher fauna welfare standards.
Panorama Meats
Panorama Meats
For those who want to decode the bewildering array of labels, A Greener Globe'south app, Food Labels Exposed , guides y'all through 100 claims that might be fabricated past beefiness in the shop, including three mutual terms that should tip you off that information technology isn't pure grass fed: "natural," "vegetarian fed" and "pasture raised."
Another option is to become loyal to a brand y'all know is trustworthy. For instance, Panorama Meats sells organic-certified 100% grass fed beef.
Surprisingly, organic certification alone does not guarantee pure grass fed beef. The USDA organic seal only promises that the animals had seasonal access to pasture and that their feed was organic. Panorama is certified past the Global Animal Partnership, a program Whole Foods as well uses that tin steer you toward true grass fed beefiness.
Other grocery stores vet brands that meet their standards for grass fed beef, so ask if it'southward not clear. But Balkcom cautioned that meat department managers aren't always the all-time resources. "Just y'all as the consumer can make them observe out," she said.
Finding out where the beef comes from is key, according to Davis. But the best way to become a more inquisitive and informed meat consumer, she said, is through hands-on experiences, like butchering workshops.
"Most people think that all meat is created equal," Davis said. But after a workshop, people revalue meat. "They learn that there's a different mode of raising meat that could be good for our planet and better for the animals and ameliorate for our own bodies," she said.
16 Alternatives To Beefiness Burgers
Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/grass-fed-beef-label-fake_l_5d309f0ce4b020cd99405605
0 Response to "Does Whole Foods Sell Grass Fed Beef"
Post a Comment