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No additives, no hormones. no chemicals... do these phrases mean what you think they mean? The Diet Detective has a little guide to help you figure out what these designations mean, and it isn't always what you think.
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No antibiotics - Some antibiotics are given to treat sick animals, and given to the whole herd when one animal is ill. The "subtheraputic" use of drugs to boost animal growth is the main concern here, and labeling usually differentiates between the two. Organic farmers cannot use any animal for organic products that has been treated with antibiotics, so they are simple separated from the herd if they must be treated.
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No chemicals - This label means nothing (or anything at all), since there is no USDA or FDA definition of the term.
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No additives - There are 2,800 potential additives for meat in the US and the labeling applies to what was added to the meat, such as colorings and flavorings - not what was fed to the animal in the first place.
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No hormones - Hormones are not allowed in the production of pork and poultry. Period. Cows can be given hormones to speed their growth, though, so if the label specifies that "No hormones [were] administered," the cow probably lived a healthy and natural life.
The Detective notes that because the regulations are in place, doesn't mean that they are always followed. In many cases, there is little in the way of follow-up to prove that all producers are living up to their labels. Many suppliers, however, do live up to the standards set by law, if not to a higher standard of their own. Labeling may not be fail-safe, but it's still more reliable than the alternatives of no labels or completely unsanctioned ones.
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8-23-2006 @8:32PM William Maita said... I use to supervise a large cattle feedlot where cattle were fed to try to get them to reach the grade of choice or higher.
I have to say if you are interested I know so much about how cattle are treated it would make you head swarm. There is so much the public doesn't know and if they did they would never eat bovine meat again. It was and probably still is a real decieving business.
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8-23-2006 @8:52PM Juan said... I would l;ike to know more about cattle treatment.
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8-23-2006 @9:32PM Janet Novielli said... There are many families that are trying to get back to a simplier lifestyle, moving to farms and raising animals for there own use and to add to their incomes.
They attempt to raise their animals as close to natural as possible. Some sell pasture fed beef at an inflated price but many will sell at the going rate of what could be gotten at the stockyard. Check around. Ask at local feed stores if they know anyone who might be interested in selling a cow. There are chickens, eggs, pork, beef available that are raised without antibiotics or hormones.
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8-25-2006 @7:58PM Marsha said... It's time for consumers to become aware and responsible about the food that they eat.
Anything that is DONE to the food that we eat
is bound to have an impact on we consumers who
do the eating. Labeling what has been done to the
food we eat is beneficial to help us know what to
avoid. But perhaps our responsibility about what is done to our food--plant or animal--needs to have much stricter controls. May cost us more today... but perhaps less in medical bills later!
happen way before
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8-23-2006 @9:39PM Kayla Brooks said... If you want to know the truth and whole truth read the 2002 New York Best Seller...Fast Food Nation-The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser.
Talk about wanting to make you sick. After reading this paperback...I went to the bathroom and puked.
Yes it IS that bad!!! The whole told story about our slaughterhouses and then some!!! Watch out people, we DO have a right to know!!!
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8-23-2006 @10:01PM diamondodge said... if you want to know more about meat, and are open-minded, go to the peta.org website and view their "meet your meat" article. i'm not in favor of every move peta makes, so save your negative comments, but there is good in the organization, too.
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8-23-2006 @10:42PM Richard Bristol said... I'm sorry folks, but I grew up in the dairy/beef cattle business (I'm no longer connected whatsoever to it.) I'm sorry to dissapoint all of you, but I have never seen anything in terms of chemicals or hormones given to a single animal that would cause me to think twice about consuming beef. I grew up eating the same meat that was sent out to the public with no worries at all. Some people just want to believe things to be true--I'm afraid. Sort of like conspiracy theories...
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8-23-2006 @11:02PM Kelli Brewer said... I belong to PETA (People for the ethical treatment of animals) & HFA (Humane Farming Association). I give them $100 each frequently. I have read & seen in the newspaper things that got exposed to the public of how animals are done in the slaughter houses. If slaughter houses all had glass windows, everyone would be a vegetarian today. They take chickens & scalled them to death while they are still alive & conscious. How cruel, inhumane & torturous of these evil wicked animal abusers & killers. They take a sledge hammer & start beating the cows in the head & all heard is moooo moooo from pain instead of instantly killing them like electricution or a gun. Animals are nothing to farmers accept money makers. If they cannot produce eggs anymore or milk anymore, they are considered a piece of garbage & off they go to the slaughterhouse. Money is the god of this system & in time these money greedy hog farmers will pay big time by God. Same goes for the evil, wicked animal abusers who work in the slaughter houses. I want to know more about mistreatment of animals & if any of you have info, please email me at brwk6@aol.com. Thanks, Kelli Brewer
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8-23-2006 @11:08PM Kelli Brewer said... William Maita, please educate me about what the public does not know concerning cattle mistreatment including chickens & pigs too if you know about this also. My email is brwk6@aol.com. Thank you, Kelli
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8-24-2006 @12:06AM Colette said... Janet Novielli's comment about the small farmer is correct, with one exception. In order for me to sell my eggs to the general public I have to be licensed by the state and follow their rules. My chickens are free range, meaning they only go into their house's for food or shelter. The state has so many rules regarding animal husbandry, I would have to put them in lock down in order to profit. That I refuse!!!! So I supply eggs for my family and friends only. These animals are my pets, not my income!
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8-24-2006 @12:20AM AMK said... Good grief, Kelli!! A sledgehammer?!?!?!?! I am curious where you got this information. I can't speak on the matter of chickens or pigs, but I can say that you have been misinformed on the nature of the most commonly used practices at the nation's largest beef slaughterhouses. I am not going to tell you that it's all roses for these animals - the end is always the same for meat animals - but you had better believe that EVERYTHING that happens at beef plants has to have a monetary and/or labor reducing advantage, and hitting an animal in the head with a sledgehammer accomplishes NEITHER of these goals.
I can tell you for a fact that cattle entering the kill floor at a plant are killed quickly with the use of a device that shoots a spike through the skull and into the brain - it's just like a bullet only easier to retrieve. Is it pretty? Heck, no! It's a sight I never want to see personally. Is it effective (i.e. does it kill quickly)? Absolutely. And I know this because my husband has worked in the past as a Supervisor at beef plants in four states and for the largest companies in the business. I can tell you that his appetite is pretty delicate, and yet what he has seen at the plants has not put him off of meat in the least. I also know this because I am a graduate of the animal sciences dept of a major agricultural university - meat science wasn't my specialty by any degree (I myself prefer the cuddlier aspects of animal science), but we had to take the basics in most areas in addition to our chosen concentrations, and the things you have stated go against everything we were taught.
The meat industry is like any other: it is driven by profits, and until quite recently the live animals were without a doubt handled with less respect than their end result. But it was realized in the late 1980's and early 1990's that animals that aren't stressed produce a MUCH better product, and therefore most major beef companies implimented procedures and redesigned their facilities so that stresses are minimized wherever possible. If you are interested in learning about that, the books written by Temple Grandin may be helpful. The current reality is that the animals are treated better than the employees at the plants these days.
Animal rights organizations are excellent at bringing issues to the public's attention, but PLEASE realize that the "articles" you read from them are as much propaganda as the information gained from the promotional materials of the industries themselves. And frankly, a lot of the activists' information is decades old simply because it sells better. Make sure you get the facts as close to firsthand as you can, and certainly from both sides, so that you can come to your own educated conclusions. And make sure your facts are accurate before repeating them in a forum like the internet.
A sledgehammer... that's a good one.
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8-24-2006 @12:39AM Kelli Brewer said... Colette, I highly admire you & commend you for this. I am in 100% agreement that animals are living breathing beings too that feel pain just like humans & they are life. Animals were NEVER EVER made to be income profit makers. They are valuable & fun & loving companions. Would humans like to be in lock down / confined to where they cannot even stretch or move & hange positions & kept just to make money off of? NO WAY IN FUCKING HELL WOULD ANY HUMAN LIKE THIS so why in the hell do they have to treat animals like this & do this to animals? God never intended for humans to eat animals in the first place. It was because of the flood that started it. If I had the money, I would own a farm with tons of cows & pigs & chickens (lets say all farm animals ) & I would get the majority spayed & neutured & they would live freely to roam & wander anytime & would live as pets. I would never ever sell an animal to market, not for all of the money in the entire world, not for all of the riches / material posessions in the entire world as LIFE IS MORE IMPORTANT TO ME THAN MONEY.
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8-24-2006 @12:42AM michael said... I was raised in northern California (and NO it is not Calli, and it is San Francisco, not frisco), but the point is that I regularly went down to Los Angeles, and they loved this one hotel in the outskirts (Then, my guess it is in downtown LA now) But the point I wish to make is that we had to drive by a pork slaughter house, and even with the windows up and the air conditioner running full, the smell would still perminate the car, and it was enough to make you lose lunch, luckly it was in the early morning, so there was nothing to lose, we knew not to eat anything untill AFTER we passed the slaughter house. I could only remember one thing that smelled worse, and that was human remains in a room for several hot days. Trust me, the slaughter house smells like roses by comparison. Something that smells that nasty, can not be good for us, or the pigs, for that matter
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8-24-2006 @2:05AM Red Hawk said... I was raised on a ranch. We had our own meat,eggs,raw milk, fruit and vegtables. We bought very little in the store because my Mother was home to care for her family and canned and froze a lot of foods to store for winter. I want to tell you I have followed that life style to this day and I am 70 years old. By eating healthy like this I look no where near my age and I can out hike 20 year olds in the mountains. And my love life is that of a 30 year old . I have not one wrinkle and I have no pain in my body of any kind. The reason I think people are getting so obese is the food they eat is not fit for pigs. But it is very good for the Corporate Factory Farms . They laugh all the way to their bulging bank accounts .I was reading that they even use bugs to color foods. I see the land being ripped to pieces for homes and shopping centers that could be better used to produce pure clean foods. I see million dollar homes going in these places. It will do no good to live in a million dollar home if your food is killing you. I am Native American .Because we wanted to live a natural life we were called savages. In time we shall see who was right in their lifestyles. Aho Red Hawk
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8-24-2006 @2:31AM Angie said... I am curious about meat sold at places like Trader Joes and Whole Foods. I only buy kosher meat because from what I understand, traditional kosher laws dictate free range, etc etc. (I am not jewish -- but I do have a jewish grandmother LOL) I buy my veggies at the local farmer co-op and try not to support big business wherever possible. Any info on organic stores? I don't think I'll ever be a vegetarian (not full time anyway) or raise my own food... so what's a good happy medium?
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8-24-2006 @4:47AM Jeannie said... I too am frustrated by all the additives. I am diabetic and have gained an alarming amount of weight due to the insulin required. In trying to clean up my diet even further than organics whenever possible, I can't seen to find hormone-free beef or chicken products anywhere. We have a Trader Joe's, but not a Whole Foods near Fremont, CA. Any ideas?
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8-24-2006 @5:27PM Kelli Brewer said... To AMK: After reading everyone's comments I needed to respond to your comments. Perhaps you never read the one page add in the New York Times concerning the way the cows are slaughtered in New York, or saw the way they are killed in a Kosher slaughterhouse. Have you read the newspaper article from Threemile Canyon Farms in Morrow County, Oregon. New York slaughterhouses after hitting the cows in the head, hoist them up on a chain upside down on a conveyor belt. Then giant clippers begin to shear off the legs. The cows are still conscious at this point. Then they are skinned alive up to the head. Hidden camera video films filmed this from the Humane Farming Association and I have the one page article to prove it with very graphic scenes. On Threemile Canyon Farms in Morrow County, Oregon, the farm likes to boast about how big it is-20,000 cows crowded into one gigantic milk factory. The buildings used to confine such a vast number of animals is one mile long. These horrendous conditions cause cows to become susceptible to mastitis. Threemile Canyon Farms has its own grisly way of dealing with mastitis. TYhe workers cutt off a portion of the infected teat with a razor-like device and this is performed without anesthetic. Fifty percent of the calves born are male and since they produce no milk. Some of these unwanted calves are abandoned to slowly starve to death and then shoot those who haven't starved to death within a reasonable time. Other calves are killed by bashing their heads with a 2 x 4 or swinging the animal by it's hind legs and pounding it's head on the concrete floor. Some don't die right away but lie for up to 3 hours after shooting or bludgeoning. Also, in response to your comment to Kelli Brewer, I lived in South Carolina in 1996 and a friend who went to my church worked in the slaughterhouse in South Carolina. He personally told me that they used sledge hammers on the cows to stun them and then they proceeded to their demise. So you don't know everything Ms. AMK
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8-24-2006 @8:52PM Eric Franke said... In 1948 I took a tour through what at that time was the huge Chicago Union Stockyards on the south side of the city. These tours were made available to the public and they were certainly very informative but not recommended for the fainthearted. You were taken past large windows reaching from floor to ceiling where you got a good view of what took place.
At the first stop you witnessed the cattle being killed. It was done with what looked like a large hammer that contained a powerful charge of some type that brought about a quick death. A blow to the forehead and this hulk of a body slumped to the floor. It appeared to be a fairly painless death but it was still a rather shocking view.
At the next stop you got to view how the pigs were processed and it was a large scale operation that moved the animal suspended by its hind legs from a continues traveling conveyor belt which moved it from station to station. At the beginning of the process, the live animal was grabbed, the hind legs tied and then suspended from the conveyor belt. An employee, dressed in a raincoat and wearing full length rubber boots, slit the throat of the pig as it passed by him. Hanging like it did, most of the blood was drained and he stood ankle deep in blood. This certainly left a lasting impression on the viewers. Although death was certainly instant there was a short delay from suspension to throat slitting. The carcass continued through several stations that each performed a task on the way to become a finished product.
The Chicago Stock Yards were gradually closed down beginning in the mid '50s.
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8-25-2006 @11:50PM Darlene Nolan said... Kelli Brewer should not use profanity to make her point which is incorrect about humans not meant to eat meat. Most mammals eat meat: cats, tigers, lions, dogs, bears, etc.. Sharks, fish, crocodiles, alligators and snakes eat meat. Even birds eat other birds. Most living creatures, including mankind, have eaten meat for centuries which improved our brain capacities because of the added protein. Nothing wrong with being compassionate, but we need to be realistic as well.
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