Grass-finished beef and a new gmo threat
by Ask a Healer
Suggested Reading: Organic Favorites
I am an advocate of grass fed beef, both for humanitarian and health reasons. However, there's a big difference between grass fed and grass-finished. A company may now say their beef is grass fed, even if the cattle only spent a small amount of time in pasture. It's common practice to take the cattle from the pasture a few months before they are "harvested" and bulk them up with grains. Not only is this drastic change stressful for the cow, it results in far less healthy meat. Grass fed on the label does not mean the cow actually was pasture raised for the majority of their lives. This needs to change and labeling needs to be far more transparent than it is at the present time.
What is Grass Finished Beef?
When beef is grass-finished, it means the cattle was pasture-raised, right up until the time they were killed for food. If a website doesn't say "grass-finished beef", it probably isn't grass-finished. That being the case, my next concern is what the cattle are fed when they are taken from the pasture. If the label says certified organic, then I know they at least do not feed GMO feed to the cattle. But if that label is missing, it is probable that GMO corn may have been fed to them,
and now, even grass fed doesn't preclude gmos.
Used to be, if beef was labeled grass fed, I thought I could trust the no gmos were involved. That changed in 2014 when Roundup Ready Alfalfa was approved for feed, despite a seven-year long battle with the Center for Food Safety, fighting against it's release.
Monsanto has strategically placed their employees in just the right positions all over the United States and are systematically destroying the U.S. food supply but that's another article
. What the approval of roundup ready alfalfa means to me is that it may make it a lot harder to trust that grass fed beef is not gmo beef.
Here's more on what constitutes grass-finished beef, from the Beef Board.
Roundup Ready Alfalfa will most likely present the same kinds of troubling results that have been seen with GMO corn. It is not food as we know it. Animals suffer from eating it and the resulting meat is not healthy for humans to consume. I know this will come to light but how much suffering could be avoided if Monsanta were forced to close their doors forever, for the sake of every living being in the world.
Alfalfa is used for food for dairy cows as well as beef cows so it will also become much more difficult to find milk that isn't from gmo-fed cows now. Your horses will most likely eat roundup ready alfalfa next year, unless you specifically track down non-gmo grass. Monsanto says roundup ready alfalfa can be grown next to regular alfalfa without impacting it. Of course, it requires that farmers take extraordinary measure which they must pay for on their own, all to keep Frankenseed from drifting into their pastures and polluting their crop. Should Monsanto seed drift, the farmer may face a fine, confiscation of his crop by Monsanto and the loss of his farm over all the legal expenses.
This is happening in America. Right now. In the Heartland.
Given the fact that the raising and transporting of beef constitutes one of our biggest sources of methane, it might be a good time to stop eating beef altogether and just focus on getting good, non-gmo milk back on the market. According to the EPA, the cattle industry today is responsible for 28% of global methane emissions from human-related activities.
Health Care Disclaimer: The information contained in article on grass fed beef vs grain finished beef, as well as the information on methan production and roundup ready alfalfa reflect my current level of research into a complicated matter. Be pro-active in your own health by doing further research in determining the best beef for you and the ones you love to consume. I encourage you not to assume that FDA-inspected means best. It's good that there are regulations governing bacteria and other harmful substances in our meat but consumers must stay involved in all aspects of how meat goes from field to table, to insure that healthy beef remains an option.
