Wow, what a response from my last email! It is clear that you are concerned about the meat you eat out in restaurants and buy to cook in your home. I received so many questions about how to identify factory farmed meat when shopping at the grocery store, what kind of labels to look for, which brands to avoid, etc.
These are ALL excellent questions and I want to share my favorite tips with you today!
Meat and dairy companies often use pictures of grassy farms and terms like "Natural", "Humanely Raised", and "Cage Free" on their packaging. Don't fall for it! Most of this is just marketing.
Below is a list of popular labels you'll find on meat and what they REALLY mean.
Even if you've been buying the same brands for years and think it's safe, check it again and really examine the labeling on the package to make sure you know what you're getting. They do try to trick you!
Meat with unverified labels like these could have been (and likely was) raised on a factory farm and is not usually the best choice:
- Natural - No artificial ingredients or added color and it's only minimally processed. May still have been given hormones, antibiotics, drugs, and raised on GMOs in a factory farm. This label doesn't mean what it should and is essentially meaningless!
- Humanely Raised or Raised in a Humane Environment – The term "humane" is not properly regulated and there are no USDA standards. Brands like Simple Truth and Harvestland brands – have been caught raising their chickens on factory farms although they were labeled this way.
- No Added Hormones - No hormones were given during the animal's lifetime, but they may have still been given antibiotics or other growth promoting drugs. This is a common label on poultry and pork, but it means absolutely nothing because the USDA does not allow hormones to be administered to poultry or pork anyway! This is a shady way to mislead customers.
- Raised Without Antibiotics - No antibiotics were given during the animal's lifetime. May have still been administered hormones (if not poultry or pork) or other growth-promoting drugs such as ractopamine in turkey, and may have been fed GMOs on a factory farm.
- Vegetarian Fed - Not fed any animal products. May have been fed grains, GMOs, antibiotics, or given growth hormones.
- Free Range - Animals had access to the outdoors, but it is possible that they never stepped outside. May have still been administered hormones, antibiotics, or other growth-promoting drugs such as ractopamine, and may have been fed GMOs on a factory farm.
- "Cage Free" on poultry - This label on poultry is misleading because only chickens raised for eggs are typically caged.
- Grass fed - Unless 3rd party certified (see below for more info), this term is not properly regulated and the USDA allows this term to be used on factory farmed meat. May have still been administered hormones, antibiotics, or other growth-promoting drugs such as ractopamine.
It sure would be nice if factory farmed meat had a big giant WARNING LABEL on it, but unfortunately it doesn't...
That's why I prefer to obtain meat directly from local farms or sources I trust where they are transparent about their practices. Knowing the source of my meat, gives me peace of mind that the animals truly had a "free-range" life and weren't kept in a crate and pumped with antibiotics in some Big Ag operation. Ideally, I want all the meat I buy to come from a healthy, contented animal that grazed on an open, green pasture its whole life.
One of the best ways to do this is to connect online with farmer's markets or use subscription-based Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) to purchase organic and grassfed meat.
Yes, this meat may cost more than what you find in an average supermarket. But rather than judge the value of food in terms of dollars, think of its value in terms of nutrition – and your health. Toxins accumulate in animal tissue - we want the meat we eat to be as healthy as possible!
When shopping for meat in the supermarket, there are a few labels out there that are meaningful and 3rd party certified which tell you quite a bit about how the livestock was raised. Take some time to remember what these various labels below mean, so that you'll recognize them when you see them!
Look for these labels to avoid factory farmed meat:
- Animal Welfare Approved - This 3rd-party certified label ensures that the animals were raised on sustainable pasture-based family farms that treat their animals humanely.
- American Grassfed Certified - A 3rd party certifying program that ensures meat and dairy comes only from animals that ate nothing but their mother's milk and grass their whole lives, and that they didn't come from a feedlot. No hormones or antibiotics are permitted.
- Global Animal Partnership (Only steps 4, 5 and 5+) - A 5-step animal welfare rating program that outlines specifics on how animals are cared for and raised. Steps 4, 5, and 5+ require access to pasture.
- USDA Certified Organic - This will help you avoid the worst factory-farmed meat, with exceptions. Sadly, organic meat may be raised in factory farm conditions and this label does not ensure they were raised much more humanely than conventional animals. Growth promoting drugs, hormones, antibiotics, and GMOs are prohibited from their food, and they are fed only organic food. They also must be given access to the outdoors.
When you're dining out, ask your server where the restaurant purchases its meat. If the answer is something like Smithfield, Tyson or Perdue (instead of a small local farm), that indicates the meat is probably processed to the hilt. That's why I often choose to eat vegan or vegetarian dishes at restaurants.
You will be more likely to find meat that wasn't raised on a factory farm in natural food markets like Whole Foods Market, Earth Fare, Sprouts, etc., but you still need to check labels and ask questions.
If you don't have access to grass-fed and pastured meats like this in your area or want access to be more convenient, I have a life-changing solution for you in my next Food Babe Favorite Gift coming out on Monday! I can't wait to share it with you!
Make sure to check Monday's email - you are going to love this!
Xo,
Vani
P.S. Whether you eat meat or not, please share these tips with your friends and family and ask them to subscribe to the Food Babe newsletter here. (Forward them this email!) We need everyone to know this life changing health information!
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