Exploring our Relationship to Meat in an Informed Era

For most of us I expect, our relationship to meat and its relationship to us was fairly elemental growing up in the Midwest. Farmers raised it, and we ate it. We weren’t likely to ask probing questions such as what the livestock ate, what the conditions were on the farms they inhabited, or how they were slaughtered. We certainly weren’t interested in the water, energy and other resources that were required to sustain these livestock. In fact, even with the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962, and the associated mounting pressure to develop a higher consciousness around the widespread application of toxic herbicides and insecticides such as DDT, most of us didn’t make – or maybe didn’t want to make – the systemic connection between poisoning the land and its creatures and poisoning ourselves.

Growing Awareness of Connection Between Us and “Livestock”

This clear connection between poisoning our food sources and poisoning ourselves seems elemental in hindsight of course, but the 60s and 70s were a window of great tumult in the country, and it seemed that many of the strongest voices of protest were being spent on pressuring our leaders to withdraw from the Vietnam War, or to address the persistent racial/cultural and gender divides that plagued the nation, and many would say, plague it to this day. Perhaps we had too many societal challenges to canvas to have given our food supply and our shifting relationship to its production and consumption the attention it deserved.

While the history of organic farming practice dates to the 1930s, it exploded in the 1990s and continues unabated today. The organic meat movement might arguably be linked to the discovery of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or, as it became more commonly known – Mad Cow Disease. The first confirmed case in the US was in late 1993. This frightening disease attacks the brain and spinal cord of the infected animal. Consuming meat from an infected animal can cause serious illness or death. Millions of cattle in Britain have been destroyed to prevent the spread of the disease to humans. Its emergence has provoked a growing global dialogue on the safety of meat and meat by-products, not limited to this disease, but encompassing the complex system of bringing meat to market.

Other influences have driven more farmers to consider establishing more organic practices, including social consciousness of the treatment of animals, a connection between lean meat protein and better health, and shifting lifestyles.

What is Organic Meat?

One of the great ruses of this rise in interest in healthier eating has been the seemingly endless references to “natural” foods. Whether in advertising or on labels, for years we have been assaulted with claims of natural, naturally derived, low-fat or fat-free foods from every corner of the supermarket, radio and television. Many of us now cast a critical eye towards these claims, and are more vigilant in reading labels and not being taken in by overzealous advertising. Much of this knowledge has been driven by consumer advocacy organizations pressing the FDA to require more accurate, digestible and honest labeling and claims associated with many of these “healthy” foods. 

I think that we are beginning to sort out the discussion on organics – and organic meats – in a similar manner. The agricultural producers, and markets, are starting to recognize that consumers are asking critical questions about the meaning of organic and its relationship to other challenging issues in our food ecosystem such as genetically modified organisms (GMOs), transportation and energy costs to produce and get foods to the consumer vs. locally-raised and distributed foods, trade practices of the producers, and the link between humane treatment and slaughter of animals raised for consumption and our own health.

There are now clearing, if not crystal clear, defining elements for meat to be considered organic. Foremost among these are their living environment, lack of hormones or antibiotics, healthy feed source, clean water source, sustainable practices, etc. The US Department of Agriculture has clear standards in place dictating what meats can be noted as organic. These standards, along with those for other organic foods, are explained in its National Organic Program. However, once a farm or producer has been certified as organic, oversight has been problematic. As of 2013, new oversight standards were implemented through the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the US Department of Agriculture.

Like any costly process linked to a multi-billion dollar industry, there will be producers looking to sidestep requirements when not scrutinized, so we all benefit by our vigilance and awareness of the standards. Ask questions of your local grocer, push for more organic meat choices and consider supporting those stores that are open and educating about their organic meat choices. For example, Whole Foods Markets meats are USDA certified organic but also adhere to the Global Animal Partnership Animal Welfare Rating System.  In practice, I think that consuming more locally produced organic meats, fruits and vegetables when possible is a great way to get closer to the issues and gain a more realistic understanding of our intimate relationship to the foods and meats we consume.