"No hormones added, minimally processed," my husband read from the packaged chicken he was holding over the cooler case in a big box grocery. Dubious, I took a closer look and pointed to the small asterisk followed by minuscule type: "FDA regulations prohibit the use of added hormones in poultry." So much for his food find. This scene is typical of our more recent meat buying exchanges: scrutinizing labels and searching for the caveat emptor.
What to buy (and how to cook it) has become a recurrent, sometimes contentious topic of conversation in our household. After some unexpected life changes prompted a values re-assessment, the pantry partnership began to get interesting. For me the desire to return to an organic, whole foods diet has become a call, for my husband but a whisper. Philosophically, he likes the idea of eating organically; financially, he's not so wild about it.
Nonetheless, on a recent Friday we set off on a mission to find our mightier meats. Our road trip around town took us to five grocery stores: two commercial chains, a big box, a national independent, and a local meat shop. By the time we finished we were more confused than enlightened, more tired than triumphant. And still meatless.
In addition to the grass-fed, free-range and organic labels we'd expected, we also encountered "all natural," "minimally processed" and "no added hormones." Which was best? What was the difference? We didn't know.
We trudged back to the independent grocer and bought a whole chicken, some chicken breasts and a package of turkey tenderloins. These three items (plus a few non-meat purchases) cost us about $50--almost half of our weekly grocery budget. As we soon found out, we might not have gotten what we thought we were getting.
Consciousness, sustainability and humaneness don't come cheap. They don't go on sale. And, most importantly, they can't always be accurately identified by the labels on our foods. Since our shopping trip raised more questions than it answered, I conducted some research of my own into food labeling and was disturbed by what I discovered.
In a nutshell (as defined by the USDA):
Grass-fed - refers to beef that has been fed a grass diet and had access to pasture. However, as a voluntary program, there is no official third-party verification required for this label, which means that cattle could also have been confined to a pen and fed hay for several months out of the year as well as hormones and a steady diet of antibiotics.
Free-range - as applied to chickens means access to the outdoors, which could refer to dirt or gravel as well as pasture. Access isn't a guarantee that they actually roamed outside, and even if they did, the USDA requirement is for a minimal 5 minutes. Again, the label is not a guarantee that the animal was raised without antibiotics or growth enhancers.
Natural - is an unregulated term and simply means that the food is minimally processed: no artificial flavors, colors, chemical preservatives, or other synthetic ingredients (good). However, growing methods, which include antibiotics and growth enhancers for either poultry or livestock, are not reflected in the labeling, so meat bearing this label could have been fed excessive antibiotics (not so good).
Hormones - (man-made) are standard in poultry and livestock production for the purposes of fighting disease or controlling the animal's growth and metabolism. Some hormones, like those given to dairy cows to increase milk production (rBGH, rBST), may lead to more infections that require the use of antibiotics. It's the frequent exposure to the antibiotic residue in milk and other dairy products that have many concerned about long term health effects. (Organic--and some conventionally produced--milk and other dairy products are labeled as rBST or rBGH-free).
Certified Organic - food labels offer perhaps the most assurance. Labeling is regulated by the USDA National Organic Program which strictly prohibits the use of most synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, sewage sludge fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, growth hormones, irradiation, antibiotics, and artificial ingredients. Importantly, organic agriculture is based upon internationally recognized standards that are verifiable.
Clearly food labeling is designed to operate on implication - inference, which industry marketers are betting will work to their advantage. Food is a business like any other and as such it depends upon profit, so it's not surprising that manufacturers use this strategy to better position their products. Not surprising, but still distasteful.
Who suspected that the $5.39/lb. package of turkey tenderloins we bought may differ only slightly from the conventionally packaged meat in the case next to it? When I took a closer look at the labels on the meat we had bought I discovered that, sure enough, the tenderloins were labeled as "Cage Free, 100% natural, no preservatives, no additives."
Was that 5 "cage-free" minutes a day for that turkey, or was hers an idyllic, pastoral existence? Was she drug-free or shot full of growth enhancers and antibiotics like some hen-house junkie before finding her way to our dinner plates? I'll never know, but I'm doubtful that it was as serene and green an existence as the label implies.
The average consumer is likely unaware (as we were) of food labeling loopholes. Seeing natural and no artificial ingredients labels, they believe they're making healthier choices for their family and the environment when they purchase it.
Many of us don't realize the initial investigation required to make truly informed food choices, investigation that is essential in light of recent news that the federal agencies--FSIS, FDA and EPA--charged with ensuring our food safety are failing.
Last month he USDA released it's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) Annual Report, which detailed contamination of the U.S. beef supply with unhealthy and unmonitored levels of residual veterinary drugs, pesticides and heavy metals.
The report revealed that between 2007 and 2008 several slaughtered cattle containing excessive levels of veterinary drugs were turned into food released for sale to the public. Although the drugs involved could result in stomach, nerve or skin problems for consumers, FSIS requested no recall of the tainted meat. (For the full report and its recommendations, go to: http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/24601-08-KC.pdf).
I know at least two things for sure: the more we learn, the less we know and so our food education continues. And my husband and I don't always have to choose the same in order to achieve food harmony in our household.
Since organic meat and produce are more expensive than conventionally produced foods, we like many others at this time, have to pick our food battles. We try and choose wisely. Regarding meat, we buy certified organic, and with grass-fed beef we look for voluntary third party certification, such as from the American Grassfed Association, that attests the beef is "100% grass-fed."
When buying produce, we go organic for lettuce and thin-skinned fruits and vegetables, commercially farmed for food with peel-able skins like onion, avocado, and pineapple. (For a current list of the New Dirty Dozen: 12 Foods to Eat Organic and The Clean 15: Foods You Don't Have To Buy Organic, go to: http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Dirty-Dozen-Foods).
Our next likely step will be to venture beyond the grocery store to locally owned farms that are committed to sustainable, humane practices in raising and slaughtering cattle and poultry. (See http://www.eatwild.com for a directory of farms by state).
With education and commitment, we're finding our common ground on the "what to buy" and learning to creatively navigate the subtler "how to prepare it." Some reasonable compromise helps, but for those times when we're feeling uncompromising, we give ourselves permission to eat what we want. You can almost bet mine will be green.
For the most recent news on recalled ground beef, go to
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=10420034
What's in a (Meat) Label: Is Your Free-Range Chicken Really Roaming Around?
http://cookingresources.suite101.com/article.cfm/whats_in_a_meat_label#ixzz0lnHv2BD1
www.centerforfoodsafety.org/rbgh_hormo.cfm
http://www.americangrassfed.org
http://www.sare.org
http://www.sare.org/coreinfo/whatcanyoudo.htm
http://localfoods.about.com/od/meatpoultry/tp/meatlabels.htm
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