How to Buy Non-Industrial Meat

This is the second of a two-parter. I have already made the arguments about why I believe we should close all Industrial or Factory Farms in favor of small to medium sized family farms, see Good + Bad of Industrial Farm Animals. But the question remaining is, how do I consume meat or dairy without supporting those large, inhumane, and polluting type of farms?

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How to Eat Non-Industrial Food

Anti-Industrial Farming is Ethical

After this two part review, where I looked carefully at the pros and cons of Industrial Factory Farming. I have confirmed my initial informed assessment that Industrial Factory Farming does more harm to everything it touches, and in fact the only ”good” I can identify to this way of farming is lower prices to consumers.

So my choice is to not eat Industrial Factory Farmed meat, or dairy products; and I think you should consider that as a viable option too, if you can afford to do so. The big question really is how does one do this?

It Will Be Hard

Ninety-nine percent of meat, dairy, and eggs in the U.S. come from factory farms, according to SentienceInstitue. Specifically they mention the following percentage of USA farm animals live in Industrial Farms:

• 70.4% of cows
• 98.3% of pigs
• 99.8% of turkeys
• 98.2% of chickens raised for eggs
• 99.9% of chickens raised for meat

This data was generated from a review of USDA and EPA datasets, so comes from the government, and proves it will be hard to avoid Industrial Farm raised animals.

Pandemic Response Helps

But the pandemic, and the disruption it brought, and continues to bring to food supplies, has introduced us to a number of new ways to get food that will help us pick and choose the sources of our food.

• Many small to medium-sized family farms are now selling direct to consumers via Food Markets or scheduled consumers visits to their farms for pick up.
• Stores have created relationships with more local farmers, to assure food is on their shelves for consumers.
• Many farms now have a web presence for selling direct to consumers via Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes.

Start by Buying Locally

If you buy your food from national and large regional chains, just routinely picking up the cheaper meats, dairy, or egg products, you will be buying and supporting Industrial Farm foods. If you buy from smaller, perhaps local or regional chains of natural grocery stores, or from Farmers Markets, you are more likely to be buying from small to medium-sized farms.

We want those small to medium-sized farms to stay in business. And the USDA writes that the economists at the Economic Research Service (ERS) have found that farmers who market goods directly to consumers are more likely to remain in business than those who market only through traditional channels. Here are the main ways Farmers sell directly to consumers, bypassing the (recently acknowledged) fragility of our global food chain.

• Roadside stands.
• Farmers’ Markets: A list, location, times for California Farmers’ Markets.
• Pick-your-own farms: Click here to find California pick-your-own farms throughout the state.
• On-the-farm stores: Click on a post where I visit one.
• Community-supported agricultural (CSA): Information on CSAs in California.
• On-line web stores: Here is one I wrote a post on: SigSigma Ranch.

So the goal is to know your source of food, and make sure the food comes from a place you would be proud to show your friends and kids. If I am unwilling to show the farm, due to how it handles the animals, then why eat their food?

Welfare Certifications

The ASPCA has identified three independent and meaningful welfare certification programs that ban unacceptable factory farming practices and provide a better life for animals through their standards and farm audits: 

• Animal Welfare Approved, 
• Certified Humane, 
• and Global Animal Partnership.

Know Meat Labels

Here I am quoting Cook Rob J.:

• We have been buying mostly from Grassland Beef. Generally speaking, the flavors are excellent but “different”. There’s a kind of balanced smoothness to the flavor of grass fed beef that’s a bit hard to describe. The meats tend to be somewhat leaner as well. There’s a certain amount of trust involved in buying grass fed natural products, since there is no official certification for what “grass fed” means.
• There’s also a difference between “grass fed” and “grass finished”, and some people missuse the labels. Grass fed means that the animal is pastured naturally in an open field and lives their whole life that way.
• Sometimes, traditional lot raised cows are fed grass at the end of their life – this is called grass finished.
• Also, organic does not necessarily mean grass fed as animals can be fed organic corn and other grain products and still qualify as organic.
• The beef that you buy in the grocery store from conventional beef warehouses actually is from animals that are very sick and heavily propped up with antibiotics and growth stimulant. These feed-lot animals are not the cows raised with love and respect that you see on All Creatures Great and Small! Sadly, they are much more like flesh factories on legs.

Keep it Domestic

The way food is handled varies by country, for good or bad. Not every country has high standards for its agricultural products, some have higher standards than the USA. So one suggestion is keep your food purchases domestic, and local. But that also means you need to trust USDAs inspection services, and there are problems, such as: interstate travel issues, poor inspectors, and self regulation.

Change Up Protein + Dairy

The flexitarian (or Mediterranean) diet recommendation being hailed by the UN, and many Nutritionists and Dietitians, is to limit our meat consumption in general, and increase plant-based proteins.

Additionally, we need to properly serve reasonable portion sizes of meat; while generally a portion size falls into the 3oz – 6oz size, what is actually served in this country is much larger up to 1#. By limited the serving size we can reduce the amount of meat eaten and thus the amount of cows that are killed.

The recommendations include reducing the number of times meat is served throughout the week. So instead of “meat and potatoes” every night, why not have meat three times a week (or whatever). This will reduce the cost of food, and improve ones diet as well.

Alternatives to eggs I find harder. So what I do is when I am making something that calls for 6 eggs, I may use only 4 and augment with Chia Seed or Flax Meal egg replacements. To date this has worked out well for my recipes, and improved the nutrition of the food I serve.

Other changes include moving from always drinking only Cow’s milk, to the occasional plant-based milks. They provide a great alternative to animal milk. I have written a number of posts on milk:

• Global Role of Animal Milks
• Dairy Cows Milk
• Plant Milks
• Variety of Plant Milks: Coconut, Flax and Hemp Seed, Oats, Soy, Almond and Hazelnut, Macadamia, Cashew, and Rice.

Learn to Cook Whole

The idea here is to learn to use the whole, and not just parts of animals. ”Buying whole” means you can more easily buy from local farmers who do not process their animals for parts (legs, thighs, etc.), as it bypasses large, expensive meat processing plants. Using whole animals is thus easier for the farmer, and reduces their costs.

• Learn how to cook a whole chicken and not just breasts or thighs.
• Apprentice to someone who can cut up a whole chicken into its parts.
• Then use the whole bird, even the skin, bones, drippings, feet, and any other leftovers.
• Even use the bones to make broth.

Avoid Certain Brands

If the meat or eggs or milk are cheap, there is a good chance it is Industrial Farmed. Eggs for $2.99 versus $5.99 show which are Factory Farm raised.

Also learn what brands to avoid, and as an example I suggest anything from: Tyson, Cargill, Perdue, Sysco, and Conagra and Industrial raised. But there are other brands as well, so learn your farm or brand.

Select Meats Carefully

TheHealthy and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) write that some non-industrial meats are better for the environment, fighting climate change, or contain healthful properties than others. So here is a best to worst meats:

• Game Meats (Rabbit/Deer/Goat): Best if harvested from nature, sustainable, and healthy to eat in moderation; often these animals also have critical roles in nature, such as their activities fight grass fires. So critical here is not to over hunt.
• Chicken/Turkey/Ducks/Geese: These are gardeners and farmers friends for consuming pests, providing fertilizer, and laying eggs; minimal carbon emissions, do not produce methane like ruminants, and are healthier to eat.
• Seafood: This requires research and varies among types of seafood but generally can be healthy to eat and sustainable if done so carefully.
• Pork: Pigs help reduce food waste, produce nearly 50% less carbon than beef, and can be sustainable if family farmed, not industrial farmed.
• Beef: Studies show beef produces the most environmental damage, second-highest in carbon output, and not sustainable at high levels; not considered healthy for people to eat often.
• Lamb: Produces less meat per body weight, while having the highest carbon costs, so not considered sustainable or environmentally friendly. Although they do assist with fire prevention, produce wool and milk.
• Dairy Hamburgers: We consume milk-based products, but also dairy cows are often turned into hamburgers. This is not a healthy cut of meat to eat often.
• Any processed deli meat: Overall these are considered the least healthy meats to eat. Pork is often made into processed meats, and while pork might be lower in carbon costs, making pork into deli meats jacks up carbon use due to transportation and processing requirements.

Expect Higher Costs

The small to medium-sized farmers generally pasture-raise their animals as much as they can, feed organic and up-cycled food, and take care of their animals. Many are choosing to grow heirloom breeds, animals who have not been overbred to meet factory settings, but are closer to their natural selves. As a result, I need to accept that what I buy will absolutely cost more as they pass on the real costs of farming these animals. Generally, these farms are not subsidized by the government like the larger Industrial Factory Farms.

Expect Shopping Inconvenience

Living this way, means I go to several stores to buy food. From the national chains I buy the cheaper and good, organic, and imported foods I want to have in my pantry. Then I have a local store that focuses on vegetables and fruits, and provides lots of information about food sources and pesticide use. Finally I go to a regional natural grocery store for meat as they have a butcher’s shop and offer specific farm’s meats, eggs, and dairy from better, non-Industrial sources. So shopping can be inconvenient and take more time to get everything we eat.

Oh, I almost forgot that I do sometimes shop at Trader Joes and a local Farmers Market. I want to make relationships with farmers at the markets, ask questions, let them know I support their efforts to properly and ethically farm.

Support Political Change

The agricultural industry is now a very heirerarcheal structure where every aspect of the industry is concentratd around a few megaproducers and their Industrial Farms; from seeds to pesticides, to machines and animals, product processing and packaging. Support the removal of governmental financial and legal support for Industrial farming. Fight locally to clean up your community that has been effected by Industrial Farming, do not give up any good fight.

So What Meat Options Are There?

These ideas on options come from Cook Rob Johnson, Ms. Nicolette Hahn Niman, and my own experiences.

The recommendation are generally choosing animals that are organically fed, non-GMO, humanely raised with limited antibiotics, and pastured when able. And let me clarify, the point of animals being pasture raised is that they can get out and stretch if they want, they can roll in mud or dust or grass as they would under more natural conditions, but mainly it is that they have access to the food that best fits their biology.

• For dairy cows it may mainly be grass and also other plants and grains, things they can forage.
• Chickens will eat whatever they can scratch and forage such as seeds, bugs, berries, plants, and worms.
• Pigs in the pasture will eat tree nuts (like acorns), grass, plants, fruits, grains and anything else they find edible like table scraps.

Beef

Beef cattle are considered by many the best treated beef sources, as opposed to dairy cows which are often used for ground beef, once they are no longer usable as milk producers. I have been at Sig Sigma and have seen their animals out in the ranch on pasture land and in forests. Other meat producers too sell direct, so find them and buy direct. I can recommend Sig Sigma Ranch grass-fed beef, Niman Ranch, Grassland Beef and CrowdCow.

Sheep + Goats

Sheep Lambs from the USA do not seem to be Industrialized at this point only because the USA does not consume much of this meat. Again, like other animals, make sure they are pastured raised, which is in their nature. Sig Sigma Ranch grass-fed lambs and Niman Ranch are recommended.

Goats are not often eaten in the USA either, so are not as industrialized.

Pork

USA pork is raised in very large, and totally confined factories. Look for pigs raised on pastures or mixed with forest land, or in deep straw bedding. Niman Ranch, CrowdCow, and Sig Sigma Ranch pastured raised beef are recommended.

Fowl

Chickens too are almost all raised in large, overcrowded, and totally confined factories. Look for pastured-raised heirloom chickens. Additionally buy the whole chicken for it is less processed and thus more likely to be without processing-related safety issues, and will be cheaper. Recommended: Marys Chicken are free range, Grassland Beef and CrowdCow.

Turkeys are raised in large, overcrowded, and totally confined factories as well. They are also almost all the same variety of animals bred to be very broad breasted, and have unsound bodies (cannot mate, cannt stand upright, over bred, and fed antibiotics). Again look for heritage breeds that are pastured-raised. Buy whole birds, just like chicken, for safety and costs. Recommended: Marys Turkeys are free range, Diestel Turkeys are pastured raised, and CrowdCow.

Ducks + Geese: Same as above. Recommended: Mary’s Duck and Mary’s Geese are free range.

Dairy + Eggs

Eggs are hard to recommend unless you raise your own chickens, share with a neighbor, or know your farmer. The best are eggs from pasture-raised chickens, and they will be costly.

Dairy is easy for me, the butter, yogurt, and cow’s milk we get from the Straus Family Creamery. One of our favorite cheese comes from Cowgirls Creamery. Look for diary cows that are really grass-fed and pastured-raised, but even then, normal Dairy farming practices can be unsettling for many people.

Seafood

The only service I know to help me choose fish is SeaFoodWatch and the only recommendation I can make is for CrowdCow.

Game Meats

I recommend FarmFood.

Resolutions

Personally, I and my spouse have made the decision that when we eat animal products, we are willing to pay more to shop local, and to assure the animal was not raised in an Industrial Factory Farm. Frankly. If I cannot afford the meat, I do not buy it, but seek alternative protein or less of the meat per serving to make it go longer.

I do not want to buy industrial meat products, dairy, or eggs, regardless of how cheap they are in the larger national stores; if I can help it. And personally, I have made the decision to look more carefully for verification, via ratings and certifications, that the farm I am buying from is treating its animals humanely. But I clearly recognize that not everyone can afford to pay up to $9 per dozen eggs when you can buy them for $2.99.

— Patty

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