The discovery of cows infected with mad cow disease in the Pacific Northwest in recent years focused a huge amount of attention on the problem. People who eat organic beef need not worry.
Organic rules prohibit the feeding of bovine body parts to bovines for the purpose of increasing protein in their diet, which is the reason beef parts infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, have been recycled into the food supply of cattle. Infected beef can spread the disease to humans. But organically raised beef has no potential for spreading BSE to humans.
Not only that, organic beef is fully traceable from the market meat case all the way back to the animal’s mother and the plot of land it was raised on. Traceability in conventional beef production is sketchy at best.
“The green and white ‘USDA Organic’ seal may be little, but it carries a big message: The organic product being purchased is fully traceable, has passed rigorous inspections, and, in the case of organic beef, has never been fed any animal by products in any form,” says Katherine DiMatteo, Executive Director of the Organic Trade Association, the business association representing the $11 billion organics industry in North America.
While the retail price of organic meat is generally greater than conventional, to many consumers the greater peace of mind is priceless. Tighter regulatory practices that will be implemented over the long term in the conventional meat industry will inevitably raise beef prices across the board. The price of organic beef already reflects the true cost of a production system that protects the health of animals and people.
The USDA’s National Organic Standards, implemented on October 21, 2002, include rigorous standards for organic beef production. They state:
For an animal’s entire life, organic practices prohibit feeding animal parts of any kind to any animals that, by nature, eat plants. While the practice of feeding mammalian protein in feed intended for cows and other cud-chewing animals was banned by the USDA in 1997, enforcement of the ban has lagged. Furthermore, byproducts of chickens and pigs that are fed mammalian protein are allowed in feed for conventionally raised cows. Beef sold as organic must come from animals raised organically from three months prior to birth. In other words, organic beef is born from animals that have received organic feed from at least the last third of gestation.
The organic production system provides traceability of each animal from birth to sale of the resulting meat. Each cut of organic meat and meat byproduct can be traced back to its origin. If there were ever a question about the safety of an organic meat product, removal from the food supply would be swift and efficient.
The guiding philosophy of organic production is to provide conditions that meet the needs and natural behavior of the animal. Thus, organic livestock are given access to the outdoors, fresh air, water, sunshine, grass and pasture, and are fed 100 percent organic feed.
Other practices allowed in conventional beef production are forbidden in the organic system. Forbidden conventional practices include: feeding plastic pellets for roughage, feeding formulas containing manure or urea, and the use of antibiotics and growth hormones.
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