The Peeled guide to better meat
It's beefy.
Industrial meat is messy—from the confinement of intelligent animals and the treatment of workers at processing plants to the public health threat posed by antibiotic overuse and the intensive climate impact.
And currently, if you buy meat at almost any supermarket, no matter the brand, it’s coming from a handful of massive companies that do things pretty much the same way. Tyson and JBS in beef, Tyson and Pilgrim’s Pride (owned by JBS) in chicken, Smithfield and JBS in pork. All of that consolidation and corporate power leads to abuse of contract farmers and workers and the gutting and polluting of rural communities.
These companies know people are concerned about these issues, and they’re on a mission to convince you that they’re trying to do better.
Earlier this summer, I noticed an ad in Politico’s weekly agriculture news round-up for a new initiative called Protein PACT, “the largest-ever effort to strengthen animal protein’s contributions to healthy people, healthy animals, healthy communities and a healthy environment.” It took me just a few minutes to discover the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) copyright on the website.
NAMI is the powerful trade association that represents the aforementioned big meat processors. In the past year, NAMI lobbied lawmakers to reject cattle ranchers’ calls for market reforms that would help them get fair prices for their animals and aggressively fought a California law that requires egg-laying chickens and pregnant pigs be given just enough space to stand up and turn around. At the same time, its members built bigger and bigger Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), which confine hundreds of thousands of animals in one place and can increase greenhouse gas emissions.
There you go: People, animals, and climate.
I’d jump for joy at the chance to report on something that looked like real progress; maybe that will happen sometime soon. In the meantime, based on what I find over and over, I seek alternatives. I talk to and visit farmers who care for animals and steward land and other critical resources in ways that are thoughtful, innovative, and productive. And people always ask me: What should I buy??
To that end, this meat buying guide is a beefy (but oh-my-god-so-far-from-comprehensive) compilation of the most useful things I’ve learned over many years of covering this topic. It pulls in interviews I’ve done with farmers, processors, and butchers. It references research I’ve done into specific companies and the industry. It is informed by my own feet on the ground outside hog CAFOs in Iowa and on diversified, pastured livestock farms in Pennsylvania. I hope it’s helpful.
One note on the idea of a buying guide: Someday (soon!) I’ll get around to writing my treatise on the well-intentioned but (I think) misguided idea that when issues are systemic, we should cede our power to make daily choices and only focus on policy. It is true that big shifts almost always require policy change and that “voting with your fork” is not enough. But I think those of us with the privilege of resources and choices can use that power towards a better future. I also cover policy, and dear god do things move slowly. (Policymakers also respond to consumer trends, because “consumers” and “voters” are actually the same people.)
Finally, climate fatigue is real, and while fossil fuels are the most important issue, adjusting our meat-eating habits is something we can all do. Every day, three times a day.
Unwrapped
Part I: What Meat Production Looks Like
One of the best ways to get better at buying meat is to understand what typical production systems look like. This will help you evaluate any claim on a label on your own. If you know chickens eat grain, for example, and a chicken is labeled “grass-fed” (I’ve seen this!), you’ll know not to trust that brand. The descriptions here are incredibly watered down for brevity.
BEEF
What typical industrial systems look like: Cattle spend most of their lives grazing on grass. Then, independent ranchers sell the animals into feedlots, which usually look like crowded, fenced-in outdoor pens. Manure typically accumulates in the pens until they leave for processing, when it’s scraped out. Cattle are fed grain to fatten up quickly and are regularly given medically-important antibiotics in feed and water.
The alternative: The biggest difference is no feedlot. Cattle spend the entire span of their lives grazing. In ideal regenerative systems, herds are small and are moved often (a system called mob grazing, intensive grazing, or regenerative grazing), so the manure and urine cycles back into the soil and grasses have time to regrow. This system may also maximize carbon sequestration to reduce the impact of methane emissions from cow burps. On some small farms, farmers feed the animals grain themselves right at the end of their lives for meat marbling. In colder climates, cattle eat hay in winter.
Look for: Grass-fed, pasture-raised, antibiotic-free
CHICKEN
What typical industrial systems look like: Growers sign contracts with big chicken companies and build expensive, large metal barns with giant fans on the ends. The companies send the growers chicks and feed and then pay them to raise each flock over about a seven-week period. The chickens (called broilers) are bred to grow fast and often have trouble moving around. They spend their entire lives inside, in flocks that are generally in the tens to hundreds of thousands, depending on the size of the barns. They eat grain-based feed, made from commodity crops grown in monoculture systems. Waste accumulates in the barns, producing ammonia and particulate matter, which the fans blow out of the barns. Good news: the vast majority of chicken is now raised without medically-important (or any) antibiotics.
The alternative: There are many variations, but it starts with smaller groups of animals. Some operations have barns with open sides or large doors. They bring the chickens inside at night and then in the morning open the sides and let the flocks roam on pastures, pecking in the grass to supplement their feed. Many small farms keep the chickens out on pastures with moveable structures (sometimes called “chicken tractors”) following along, with food and water and to keep them safe at night. Many farms use slightly slower-growing breeds; very few use the slowest-growing heritage breeds because it’s difficult for farms to make a profit on them.
Look for: Pasture-raised or at least daily outdoor access, slower-growing breeds
PORK
What typical industrial systems look like: Some farmers are contract growers like in chicken, while others are not. But typically all growers raise market hogs in similar large, windowless metal barns with giant fans. Pigs spend their whole lives in there, often on a hard floor, crowded in with thousands of other animals. Their moms, the breeding sows, are typically kept in stalls so tight they can’t move or turn around (also called gestation crates), although state laws banning that practice are being passed around the country. Hog CAFOs collect waste (a liquid mixture of manure and urine) in outdoor lagoons or underground storage structures, and the waste is typically sprayed on crops as fertilizer. Medically-important antibiotics are regularly administered in feed and water.
The alternative: Smaller groups of hogs live outside, on pasture and/or in wooded areas with some sort of structure for shelter nearby or that they’re moved to at night. They’re moved around so that their waste gets distributed over the landscape as fertilizer and doesn’t accumulate.
Look for: Pasture/woodlot-raised, heritage, bedded pens, antibiotic-free
Part II: Expert Advice
In July, FoodPrint published a story I reported on “navigating the complicated world of sustainable meat delivery.” I talked to a few smart butchers and experts who know a lot about the meat industry as well as the owners of several companies. Here are a few of the big takeaways that apply to buying meat not only online, but everywhere:
*Transparency: Everyone agreed that whether it’s a meat company, butcher shop, or farm, they should be willing to provide you with lots of information. (If it’s a small farm, be kind and patient, they’re overworked!) “I need to get to a place where I feel comfortable buying the meat, and that means that I need meat producers and professionals who can tell me where that meat came from and how it got to my table,” said Camas Davis, co-founder of the Good Meat Project. Rebecca Thistlethwaite, director of the Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network (NMPAN), suggested looking for farms and sellers that talk in detail about their practices and standards and allow for occasional visits to farms or provide photos.
If it’s a farm near you, you might literally be looking at the cattle grazing, but for bigger companies, look for clear, simple explanations. Niman Ranch is a good example of a company that clearly and simply communicates what their systems looks like, for hogs. From their website:
*Priorities: Different approaches to raising animals align with different priorities. If you really want your beef 100 percent grass-fed, for example, there are many companies that will provide that, but a lot of that meat is coming from places like Australia and New Zealand. On the other hand, Porter Road sells beef that supports small farms in the US and doesn’t involve feedlots, but farmers do give the animals grain right at the end of their lives. Read the FoodPrint story to get additional intel I uncovered related to other big sellers like Butcher Box and Pre. In the end, you can learn about these nuances and decide which factors matter most to you. It’s also important to remember that eating is always going to be a resource-consuming process and all of us make trade-offs every day in figuring out how to do our best, so having hard-and-fast rules is tricky.
*Eat less: There is no better way to buy better meat than to just buy less of it. Legumes and grains are cheap in comparison, so overall, it could end up saving you money, even though the meat is more expensive pound for pound. Per the last point on personal priorities, if you’re choosing to go veg, great. That will work for some people and not others. There are smart arguments on either side. Here’s what Jonathan Safran Foer said when I interviewed him in 2019 about his book on the connection between meat eating and climate change:
“If you were to ask me: ‘What are the odds of half of Americans being vegetarian in 10 years?’ I’d say zero. But what are the odds of half of the meals eaten in America being vegetarian in 10 years? I would say really good. And in terms of the impact, on the environment or on the animals or whatever it is that you care about, the impact is the same.”
Part III: Where to Buy It
*Farmers’ markets and butcher shops are a top choice because you get the chance to ask whatever questions you have and support local economies. And while farmers selling at markets have varied practices, by design, they are pretty much never going to be raising animals in industrial-scale CAFOs. But of course this isn’t always an accessible option; the market closest to you might only be open for three hours on a Thursday afternoon while you’re at work.
*CSAs/meat shares can help with that issue because many offer various pick up times or delivery. The Good Meat Breakdown, which is an incredible resource for all aspects of demystifying meat, has a page where you can select your state and sort through lists of small farm sellers nearby.
*Online purchasing has gotten much better, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic when many good meat producers started doing virtual sales. NMPAN has a list of small farms that sell online, many of which ship nationally. I personally trust Grass Roots Farmers’ Cooperative and Heritage Foods. (Disclosure: The owner is also the founder of Heritage Radio, which hosts my podcast.)
*Grocery stores are tough, but many do stock great brands, so it can be helpful to find a few you trust and stick to those, rather than trying to decode millions of labels every time. I know the systems that White Oak Pastures and Shenandoah Organic’s Farmer Focus use, for example, and those brands are often available in supermarkets in my area.
Part IV: Certifications
Certifications can be both helpful and confusing.
Consumer Reports has a great guide to some popular certifications. Vermont Law School’s Center for Agriculture and Food Systems recently created a food label guide that explains what the terms on packages of ground beef and chicken breasts mean. The protein section can be found here. Finally, FoodPrint’s Food Label Guide, which includes sections on beef, chicken, and pork, is incredibly comprehensive.
Here are a few quick pointers informed by my own reporting:
For animal welfare: Animal Welfare Approved is the gold standard. Certified Humane is okay, and American Humane Certified involves small tweaks to CAFO systems. The Global Animal Partnership (GAP), which is used by Whole Foods, is a mixed bag. It has a 5-step certification system, and it’s not always clear what step the meat your buying is certified at. If it does include the step, the standards for 3-5 are very high.
For USDA organic: Most organic producers extend the spirit of the organic label to their animals and raise them in outdoor systems, but a few of the big guys cheat and do not. Currently, the organic label has many loopholes in terms of how animals are housed and treated. That could change very soon. In the meantime, the Cornucopia Institute rates some chicken and beef brands on how transparent they are about their processes and whether those processes are what they consider to be “true” organic (a big part of that means no CAFOs allowed).
Certification does require that feed is organic, which theoretically could reduce a lot of chemical pesticide and fertilizer use. But because there is not much organic grain grown in the US, many small farms choose to buy non-organic feed in order avoid importing feed from across oceans (especially since fraud is also a problem).
For grass-fed: American Grassfed Approved, PCO Certified 100% Grassfed, NOFA-NY Certified 100% Grassfed, and Certified Grassfed by Animal Welfare Approved are all reliable.
What did I miss? What are you confused about? Comment on this post and I’ll clarify or update.