Making Sense Of It All

Filed in archive Morsels of Info on March 28, 2008

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