The Good, The Bad, and the Healthy
As you’re probably aware, food that comes from free-range animals is a much healthier choice than food from animals raised in factory farm conditions. (And if you aren’t aware of this, stand by for a quick refresher.)
But it’s important to remember that safety is the flip side to the free-range/factory farm debate. I recently came across two excellent articles that show why food from free-range animals is clearly the safer choice.
Beef it up
If you only needed one reason to eat beef from free-range livestock, omega-3 content would be an excellent reason. Grass-fed animals produce meat that’s very high in omega- 3 fatty acids compared to factory-farmed animals that are fattened with grain feed. This is one reason why meat-eaters of a century ago were generally in better health than meat- eaters of today.
But omega-3 is just one of the healthy benefits. Here are six more reasons to choose grass-fed beef over factory-farmed beef:
- Higher vitamin E content
- Higher vitamin A content
- Higher conjugated linoleic acid content
- Lower caloric content
- Lower levels of chemical pesticides and herbicides
- Little chance of picking up antibiotic residue in meat
When animals are free to move about in large pastures, disease risk is low, so the need for antibiotics is dramatically reduced. But in factory farming, disease is so common that virtually all animals are given antibiotics. Then antibiotics end up in the meat, consumers eat the meat, and this contributes to our society-wide resistance to antibiotics.
That alone is disturbing enough. But there’s more: E. coli – the bacteria with certain strains that prompt severe illness.
According to a report in The Union (Nevada County, CA), a Cornell University study has found that grain-fed animals contain about 300 times more E. coli than grass-fed animals. In addition, something about the grain feed makes E. coli more acid resistant, so the bacteria are more likely to survive the trip through our stomach acids. Harmful E. coli in grass-fed beef is neutralized more efficiently in the stomach.
A good egg
Like beef, the egg has gotten a bad rap over the past couple of decades. But nutritionally, the egg is a thing of beauty.
Alternative medicine pioneer, William Campbell Douglass II, M.D., considers a farm- fresh egg to be a “perfect food.” And there’s plenty of evidence to back that up. Eggs provide a powerhouse of nutrients: essential amino acids, riboflavin, vitamins B and D, and minerals, including calcium, potassium, and iron.
By “farm fresh,” Dr. Douglass means free-range, of course – which makes a big difference. In a previous e-Alert I told you about a Mother Earth News article that detailed the results of four egg studies:
- 1974: Free-range eggs contained 50 percent more folic acid and 70 percent more vitamin B12 compared to factory-farmed eggs
- 1988: Free-range eggs contained 13 times more omega-3 fatty acids compared to factory-farmed eggs
- 1997: Free-range eggs contained higher omega-3 and vitamin E levels compared to factory-farmed eggs
- 2003: Free-range eggs contained three times more omega-3, twice as much vitamin E, and 40 percent more vitamin A compared to factory-farmed eggs
And free-range eggs are less likely to contain salmonella, the bacterium that’s the primary culprit behind most cases of food poisoning.
A recent UK government survey of chicken operations shows that nearly 25 percent of farms that cage their birds tested positive for salmonella, while only 6.5 percent of free range flocks tested positive, and less than five percent of organic flocks tested positive. The highest levels of salmonella were detected in the largest flocks. Factory farms often have 30,000 birds or more, and the largest farms may have as many as half a million chickens – all kept in cramped cages.
Less risk of bacteria consumption and better nutrition? Whether you’re talking eggs or meat, the free-range choice is a no-brainer. Especially when you consider one more element: the environment.
According to the Sierra Club, large factory farms produce 500 million tons of animal waste every year in the U.S. Quite often this waste finds its way to rivers and streams, increasing the risk of contaminating drinking water. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that waste from these giant farms has contaminated 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states, and groundwater in 17 states.
Sources:
“Grass-Fed Beef” Patti Bess, The Union, 2/19/08, theunion.com
“Salmonella Levels Over 5x Higher in Battery Eggs than Organic” Peter Shield, Natural Choices, 1/2/08, naturalchoices.co.uk
“Keep Animal Waste Out of Our Waters – Stop Factory Farm Pollution” The Sierra Club, sierraclub.org
