A Beefy Beginning

I had a fascinating conversation yesterday with a new friend who helps manage a local meat wholesaler in Spokane. He confirmed for me that when they get the meat from Kansas, Pasco, Australia or elsewhere, they process it, package it, and from that point on there is no way to track where it is from. Go here for my previous rundown on beef industry practices at the Year of Plenty mother ship.

My friend went on to explain that the beef comes to them in several different varieties. They get it “regular”, which means that it is grain fed and it is likely there is some remnant of growth hormones and antibiotics in the beef. (He did emphasize that they reduce the use of these on all the animals at the end of the finishing process.) I already knew about that beef.

What I didn’t know is that they also get beef he called, “120 off” which he explained has been intentionally kept free of hormones and antibiotics for 120 days. There is no trace of the chemicals in this beef. This is often marketed as “natural”. They also receive beef he called, “never, never” which means that it has never had antibiotics or growth hormone. What’s fascinating to me about this information is that it is not readily available to consumers. I was in a room with several folks when he shared this info and none of us had a clue. Shouldn’t consumers know that information and shouldn’t they be empowered to make those choices.

He also described the practices of of some of the large retailers of asking the supplier for the cheapest beef that they then inject with saline and chemicals to keep the meat red for up to a year. Read the label of ingredients for these beefalicious additives.

Another surprise bit of info is that the bull meat they get from Australia is grass fed and is made into hamburger. Your hamburger meat may be the only non grain-stuffed meat at the market.

This is the inaugural post of a partnership between DTE and the Year of Plenty blog that I started about a year ago. I’m looking forward to expanding the conversation. Go to http://www.yearofplenty.org for more background.