June 1, 2006

 

Grass-fed beef may be the next "in" thing for the beef industry

 

 

The movement for grass-fed beef may gain a new boost soon as new USDA regulations on the labelling of grass-fed beef takes effect.

 

Under proposed regulations, farmers could soon be allowed to apply a "grass-fed" label with USDA endorsement that would help consumers ensure that what they are getting is the real deal.  

 

To be eligible for the label, a cattle's energy source would have to be 99 percent grass.

 

Under current regulations, any producer can label their beef as grass-fed and this would continue, with the difference being that those with USDA endorsement are fed grass 99 percent of the time.

 

Beef producers such as Eric Rice owner of Country Pleasures farm, who feed their animals only grass instead of corn, say this distinguishes their beef from most commercial products. Beef reared in this way is tender and very flavourful, said Rice.

 

Rules were proposed in 2002 that would have allowed the label to be used for animals whose diet was 80 percent grass. However, that could have allowed even large commercial producers, who feed their cattle 75 percent grass, to market beef as grass-fed.

 

Most American beef comes from cattle fed during the last few months in feedlots to be fattened up with corn before slaughter. Animal activists said this is unnatural for the animal and leads to less healthy meat.

 

However, there is no evidence as yet that eating grass-fed beef would be more healthy, said Michael Hall, a professor and beef cattle specialist at California Polytechnic State University.

 

Hall said he's glad the government is proposing a strong national standard, but he predicted that grass-fed beef would just turn out to be a fad in the end.

 

The specialised beef market has gained from publicity around mad-cow disease and due to the way cattle has been shown led to slaughter flushed with antibiotics.

 

Activists said the antibiotics are necessary only because cows are not naturally adapted to eat corn in feedlots.

 

Grass-fed beef is a distinct category from organic beef , which need to adhere to other regulations in order to be classified as such. Beef can be organic without being grass-fed and vice versa.