This week’s massive recall of tainted beef is enough to put you off your feed forever. One hundred forty three million pounds of the stuff was deemed unfit for human consumption after it came to light that a Chino, CA company was continuing to process cows that were too sick to walk. An undercover video distributed by the Humane Society of the United States showed Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. workers kicking sick cows and using forklifts to force them to walk. Pretty embarrassing for the Department of Agriculture which has banned such “downer” cows from the food supply…and which is, supposedly, monitoring slaughterhouses for such abuse.
“Because the cattle did not receive complete and proper inspection, F.S.I.S. (Food Safety and Inspection Service) has determined them to be unfit for human food and the company is conducting a recall,” Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said in a statement.
It’s doubtless that supermarket chains, fast-food giants and, god help us, the U.S. school lunch program will continue to buy from companies like Westland/Hallmark.
But a fast-growing, and increasingly passionate, group of American carnivores are chucking the mega-feedlot meat system in favor of local ranchers who raise their cattle the old-fashioned way, in grassy pastures.
From coast to coast, small, family-operated farms are appealing to consumers who see grass-fed beef as a healthier alternative to corn-fed, and who want a product that’s humanely raised in an environmentally sustainable environment.
Witness the growing popularity of farms like family-owned Chileno Valley Ranch of Petaluma in Northern California, where you can visit the pastures, throw a wedding, take an art class or buy a ¼ "split" of a grass-raised cow. See La Cense Ranch in Montana which prides itself on its several different types of grass. Check out Lewis Waite Farm in Greenwich, New York where Alan and Nancy Brown have been raising cattle since the late ‘60s.
We’re talking beef raised exclusively on grass (not fattened up with grains before slaughter), with no antibiotics and no growth-promoting hormones. While it’s not a given that animals on these small, sustainable farms are humanely harvested (another term for slaughtered), the chances are vastly better than at the mass production companies.
“The mega processors in the country do 400 head an hour, 16 hours a day, 365 days a year; when my facility is completed in April we’ll do 50 to 100 head a week,” says Will Harris, owner of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, GA and Certification Chairman at the American Grassfed Association.
“I can’t say I know everyone in the (grass-fed) business,” he adds in a folksy drawl, “but everyone I know harvests their cattle at very small processing plants. It’s more of an artisanal thing.”
(To be sure, there are also small, family-owned farms in the U.S. that specialize in grain-fed cattle. humanely raised and harvested. One good example is Fred Manas’ Double-Bar-O Angus Ranch (www.manasranch.com) in Esparto, CA.)
Grass-fed beef is lower in saturated fat, and higher in Omega-3 fatty acids than corn-fed beef. Grass-fed also contains several times the amount of “conjugated linoleic acid” found in cattle fattened in feedlots. (CLA has been found to have anti-oxidant and anti-tumor properties.) However, it's not necessarily for folks looking for the lowest prices or biggest values in the market. A 12-ounce grain-fed New York steak will typically cost about $17 per pound compared to about $21 for grass-fed. Nor is it the best choice for the weekend warrior who wants to toss a slab of meat on a hot grill, then focus on his Michelob or Maker’s Mark. Because of its lower fat content, grass-fed beef needs a bit more attention and a slightly lower heat level.
Fans of frass-fed beef say that it has a more robust, pure “beefy” flavor. Critics claim that it is tougher than the richly marbled corn-fed product. But clearly such culinary icons as Charlie Trotter and Tom Colicchio have no problem turning out superlative dishes (with stratospheric pricetags) using grass-fed beef.
Trotter’s temple of haute cuisine in Chicago offers grass-fed tenderloin with arugula and horseradish crème. The menu at Colicchio’s Craftsteak (see the sizzler on the right) has grass-fed steaks from three different ranches: Painted Hills Farm in Oregon, Parker Ranch in Hawaii and Montana Ranch in Montana. Acme Chophouse in San Francisco tempts with dry aged, Acme Chophouse in San Francisco tempts with dry aged, grass-fed Porterhouse and filet steak tartare. And when Harry Caray’s, the revered sports bar/restaurant in Chicago added grass-fed steaks to the menu in 2006, the president of Harry Caray’s Restaurant Group reported “the single biggest (sales) month in our history.”
Still, grass-fed beef remains pretty much a “boutique” item. Traditional U.S. steakhouses don’t give it a second look. And it’s not in most mainstream supermarkets. However it is available at Whole Foods, Wild Oats, PCC Natural markets in the Seattle area, Trader Joe’s in California and the Pacific Northwest, and Wegmans (in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia). See eatwild.com for a comprehensive, state-by-state directory of farms, ranches and markets.
Or check out the on-line stores for the grass-fed steaks that scored highest in a New York Times tasting of grass-fed beef steaks: Tallgrass Beef; American Grass Fed Beef; La Cense; Lasater Grasslands Beef.
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