"No" to what? Meat? Oh, heck no! Not exactly. Read on......
In the United States, nearly 25 million pounds of antibiotics per year, up from 16 million in the mid 1980s, are given to healthy animals for “agriculture purposes”.
What this means is that, due to the unnatural and unsanitary conditions in feed lots, which is where my little friend, #431, spent the last 150 days of his life before slaughter, the animals are likely to become ill with any number of “feed lot” diseases so they must be routinely fed large amounts of antibiotics.
Why do you suppose steer can only survive the feed lots for 150 days? If feed lots are so efficient, why not just raise the steer on a feed lot instead of letting them graze for the first year of their lives? (they're actually working on "developing" cattle to withstand just that) As one feed lot veterinarian so delicately put it, any longer than 150 days and they’ll “blow out their livers”.
Cattle are ruminants. They have a rumen, or “2nd stomach” as some people call it, roughly the size of a medicine ball, that is full of naturally occurring bacteria that efficiently turn grass into high quality proteins. Once on the feed lot, the antibiotics need to be pumped into their water and into their corn and beef tallow feed each day because their systems are just not designed to eat these highly concentrated corn and fat diets.(I'm making their diet sound much more wholesome than it really is. You wouldn't believe the stuff that's in there!).
Another use of the antibiotics is to allow for faster growth. Scientists still haven't been able to quite explain how the use of antibiotics speeds growth, but it does, so they use them for that as well. In the early 1900’s, cattle were four or five years old at the time of slaughter. In the 50’s, it was two or three years old. Now, thanks to the increased use of antibiotics and corn/fat diets, a steer can reach maximum weight at 14 to 16 months.
There are several major concerns with the feed lot practices and their heavy use of “preventative” antibiotics. Growing evidence suggests that there could be a link between the antibiotic residue that is found in the meat, (and then ingested by humans), and the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Also, the antibiotic residue in the feed lot manure that is being used as an alternative to chemical fertilizers in the organic farming industry, is making its way into our produce. Yes, even my organic lettuce and potatoes have traceable amounts of antibiotics in them. There is also a high concentration of antibiotic and hormone residues, nitrogen, phosphorus and heavy metals in the "manure lagoons" that surround the feed lots. Essentially, turning what could be a precious natural resource, "manure", into toxic waste. Even non-organic farmers can't use this waste as it would kill their crops.
Another problem is that a growing body of research suggests that many of the health problems associated with eating beef are really problems with corn-fed beef. The use of a heavy corn and fat diet, which produces the lovely tasting and marbled beef we have become accustomed to, also increases the saturated fat and decreases the omega-3 fatty acids that would be found in the meat of animals that feed only on grass.
Finding grass finished beef is much harder than I thought. Even the "natural" and "antibiotic/hormone free" labels can be misleading. Those labels simply mean that the steer are not given the growth hormones and antibiotics while they are in their grazing period. They still end up on the feed lot where they are then pumped full of the stuff.
The amount of deception that the industry utilizes to make us feel safe is really mind blowing.
So I'm saying no. Grass finished or bust!
If you share my interest in eating natural, grass finished beef (and other meat), here is a directory of some Northern California ranches that raise meat safely and responsibly : Eat Wild California
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