You may not be butchering your own
dinner any time soon, but you can get better acquainted with it. At the
grocery store, market, or online, here's what you want to know:
1.
Did the animal receive hormones or antibiotics? The USDA organic and
American Grassfed labels ensure that the animal was given neither. Both
pose a potential risk to human health.
2. What did the animal eat?
Ideally,
cows should eat grass from birth until slaughter (and the label should
specifically say so). IN commercial feedlots, they're given corn, which
is difficult for them to digest and lead to unhealthy fat in the meat
and a deadly disease called acidosis. Other animals should forage for
their feed as much as possible.
3.
Was the animal raised outdoors? Free-range and free-roam varieties are
good choices, but ask if the animals are raised outside or just have
"access" to the outdoors. For veal, look for the Strauss Free Raised
brand.("Free-raised" calves roam outside with their mothers-never
tethered indoors.)
4. Did the animal come from a factory farm? Consider breeds that would have been recognized in 1930 (for
example, Jersey Giant
chickens).Heritage breeds like these are usually raised on small farms
and are genetically sound-unlike, say the commercially bred chickens of
today, some of which are engineered to have breasts so large, they're
unable to walk.
For national directories of sustainable meat sources, go to, eatwild.com, localharvest.org, certifiedhumane.org, and eatwellguide.org.