Being an informed, conscientious consumer these days can often be difficult. The labels on meat are confusing and can be misleading. What means what?

Here is a quick tutorial to help you make important, educated decisions while you're out shopping for meat.




Organic - animals get access to the outdoors (cows, sheep, and goats get pasture time), bedding materials, and are not injected with any hormones or antibiotics.
Cage-free Poultry - birds are not kept in cages.
Free-range - animals are given access to the outdoors.
Pasture-Raised & Grass-Fed- animals get access to the outdoors and are fed solely on grasses, hay and other non-grain vegetation
Humanely raised - animals get exercise and their cages are big enough for them to move in.
No Added Hormones - cows are not injected with any hormones (using hormones on chickens and pigs is already against the law).
Natural - meat containing no artificial ingredient or added color, artificial flavoring, chemical preservatives, or any other synthetic ingredients and is only minimally processed.

Sources:
Eat Well Guide
The National Organic Program
What's In A (Meat) Label
Union of Concerned Scientists