Benefits of Humanely Raised Meats

According to the article featured today, it appears that choosing animal products for consumption that are raised and managed using high welfare standards is good for both the animal and the human consumer. Not only are such standards more humane for these creatures, but it also makes for higher quality meat that is more often free of disease and less contaminated with antibiotic drugs.

Today's post also brings to light recent concerns that shoddy administrative practices have allowed cattle into this country that may have been contaminated with Mad Cow disease. If you choose to eat meat, it is critical that you carefully determine which products end up on your table. Also included below is an excellent article that explains the different types of labels on meat and what they all mean. Understanding this can help you locate and purchase the safest meats for the protection of your family.

Is the U.S. Importing Mad Cow Disease?
July 30, 2008 on 11:50 am By beth In Food Safety

A recent audit of the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) revealed that cows from Canada have been entering the country without being properly inspected. Consequently, concerns have been raised that mad cow disease may have been imported along with the undocumented cows. And because the Bush Administration does not want meatpackers conducting their own private testing for mad cow disease, this threat to public health/food safety is simply a disaster waiting to happen.* Further complicating matters, the under-funded and understaffed USDA has no idea where these cows have ended up because of record-keeping errors made by APHIS.

While this story is newsworthy, it should not come as a surprise to anyone. This last year has been an extremely embarrassing and frightening one for United States agriculture. With the recent Humane Slaughter Act violations, the widespread distribution of downer cattle meat for children's school lunches and the largest meat recall in American history all occurring in the last seven months, it has become clear that major changes have to made within the American agricultural industry.

Prior to this news about Canadian cattle being lost in the US without proper inspection, US interest groups had already been calling for bans on cattle imports, wary of the threat to their own livestock and to the beef industry in general. R-Calf USA, a national cattle producer association, recently sued the USDA for allowing the importation of older Canadian cattle into the US. This rule is now being reconsidered thanks to a federal judge in South Dakota. (Click here To read the full news story about the lost Canadian cattle.)

Now with this revelation about the cracks in our inspection system, the push against foreign imports will be even stronger.

However, even if potentially infected animals continue to be imported, American consumers can protect themselves by making smart food choices. Consumers can reduce their risk considerably by buying their meat, dairy, and eggs from farmers who adhere to high welfare standards.

Animal welfare improvements can increase food safety by reducing stress. When animals are stressed, this can suppress their immune systems and leave them vulnerable to disease. High welfare practices reduce stress, and consequently reduce the incidence of infectious disease that can harm humans. High welfare farms have also significantly reduced or completely eliminated the need for routine antibiotics. This reduces the risk of antibiotic resistance in humans from chronic overuse in food animal production.**

More and more research has shown that the health and well-being of the animal directly relates to the safety of the consumer. When consumers buy food with the Animal Welfare Approved seal they can be assured that the animals lived under the highest welfare conditions, which put them at a much lower risk of contracting disease. Consequently, Animal Welfare Approved food is one of the safest choices for the American consumer.

*Wasserman, B. (2008, May 13). U.S. to stop private mad cow testing. Food Consumer.org.

**De Passille, A.M. and Rushen, J. (2005). Food safety and environmental issues in animal
welfare. Rev. Sci. Tech. Off. Int. Epiz., 24 (2), 757-766.

http://www.animalwelfareapproved.org/blog/2008/07/30/is-the-us-importing-mad-cow-disease/


CONSUMERS UNION OFFERS ADVICE ON MEAT LABELS THAT DO AND DON'T HELP REDUCE RISK OF EXPOSURE TO MAD COW DISEASE

-- Unbiased, Trusted Information on Meat Labeling in March Consumer Reports Health "Names and Claims" Feature and on the Web at
eco-labels.org --

Yonkers, NY—Consumers Union (CU), the independent nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, is providing consumers with important information about which meat labels can and cannot help consumers wanting to reduce their risk from mad cow disease.

THE MOST HELPFUL LABELS

Mad cow disease is known to pass from one animal to another through the use of animal by-products in animal feed. Certain labels indicate that animal by-products are not used in the feed that produced the meat. Therefore, meat carrying these labels is very low risk in terms of mad cow disease.

"ORGANIC"-- labeled meat provides consumers with the assurance that meat came from a farm that prohibits using animal by-products in the feed for farm animals. All food labeled "organic" must be verified by an independent organization. Visit the www.eco-labels.org for the full CU label report on USDA standards for organic.

"BIODYNAMIC" -- labeled meat provides consumers with the assurance that meat came from a farm that prohibits using animal by-products in the feed for farm animals. All food labeled "biodynamic" are also verified. Visit www.eco-labels.org for the full CU label report on Demeter's Certified Biodynamic label.

In addition, some meat products are labeled as to country of origin. Australia and New Zealand are currently believed to be free of mad cow.

SOMEWHAT HELPFUL LABELS

A number of other labels indicate that meat comes from an animal that was not fed animal by-products, but are not verified by any independent organization. Thus meat carrying these labels may be lower risk, but this is not guaranteed.

"100% GRASS FED" or "GRASS FED ONLY" -- labeled meat should have been produced from animals that were fed only grass and therefore, no animal by-products. However, meat products labeled as just "GRASS FED," without any additional specification, may mean that the animal ate grass for part of its life, but not its whole life. Consumers should therefore contact the farmer or producer and ask whether the animals were also fed animal by-products or rendered animal protein. Unlike the organic label, "grass fed" claims are not necessarily verified by an independent organization unless otherwise specified (e.g. accompanied by a USDA Verified Shield).

"100% GRAIN FED" or "GRAIN FED ONLY" -- labeled meat should have been produced from animals that were fed only grain and therefore, no animal by-products. However, meat products labeled as just "GRAIN FED," without any additional specification, may mean that the animal ate grass for part of its life, but not its whole life. Consumers should therefore contact the farmer or producer and ask whether the animals were also fed animal by-products or rendered animal protein. Unlike the organic label, "grain fed" claims are not necessarily verified by an independent organization unless otherwise specified (e.g. accompanied by a USDA Verified Shield).

"NO ANIMAL BY-PRODUCTS" -- labeled meat should have been produced from animals that were fed food without animal by-products. However, unlike the organic or biodynamic labels, "no animal by-products" claims are not necessarily verified by an independent organization unless otherwise specified e.g. accompanied by a USDA Verified Shield).

"100% VEGETARIAN" or "VEGETARIAN FED ONLY"--labeled meat should have been produced from animals that were fed only a vegetarian diet and therefore, no animal by-products. However, meat products labeled as just "VEGETARIAN FED," without any additional specification, may mean that the animal ate grass for part of its life, but not its whole life. Consumers should therefore contact the farmer or producer and ask whether the animals were also fed animal by-products or rendered animal protein. Unlike the organic label, "grain fed" claims are not necessarily verified by an independent organization unless otherwise specified (e.g. accompanied by a USDA Verified Shield).

LABELS THAT SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON TO REDUCE THE RISK OF EXPOSURE TO MAD COW DISEASE

CAGE FREEFREE RANGE, FREE RUNNING, FREE ROAMING
GRASS FED (without additional specification such as "only" or "100%)GRAIN FED (without additional specification such as "only" or "100%)IRRADIATED, TREATED WITH IRRADIATION (electron beam or gamma)NATURAL
NO ADDITIVES
NO ANTIBIOTICS CLAIMS
NO CHEMICALS ADDED
NO HORMONES CLAIMS
PASTEURIZED

Questions about labeling should be directed to Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D. at 646-594-0212

Eco-labels.org Feature Story www.eco-labels.org/feature.cfm?FeatureID=7

Consumer Reports Mad Cow Updated Alert

http://www.consumerreports.org/static/0312mad0.html

Consumers Union launched www.eco-labels.org in the spring of 2001 to help educate consumers about these labels. Consumers Union believes that the best eco-labels are seals or logos indicating that an independent organization has verified that a product meets a set of meaningful and consistent standards for environmental protection and/or social justice.