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Meaty Truths


Choosing Meat that’s Sustainable and Safe by Melinda Hemmelgarn


I


n his essay The Pleasures of Eating, Wendell Berry, a Kentucky farmer and poet, writes: “If I am going to eat meat, I


want it to be from an animal that has lived a pleasant, uncrowded life outdoors, on bountiful pasture, with good water nearby and trees for shade.” He, like a growing number of conscious eaters, wants no part of the industrial meat system in which animals are raised in concentrated animal feeding operations. Media coverage has helped educate consumers previously unaware of how their food is produced and why it matters. The documentary fi lm Food Inc., as well as books like Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser and The Chain, by Ted Genoways, describe common livestock industry practices that mistreat animals, pollute water and air, endanger workers and threaten public health. With increased understanding of the connections between diet and health, climate, environment and social justice, even many Americans that still like the taste of hamburger and steak have sided with Berry; they want sustainably- raised, humane and healthful red meat.


Unsustainable Corporate Lobby


Every fi ve years, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines are revised to refl ect the


latest nutritional science. In 2015, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee attempted to include the concept of sustainability. The committee, which included top nutrition scientists, defi ned sustainable diets as “a pattern of eating that promotes health and well-being and provides food security for the present population while sustaining human and natural resources for future generations.” It made the case that a diet higher in plant-based foods and lower in animal- based foods both promotes health and protects the environment—resulting in lower greenhouse gas emissions, and less energy, land and water use. But political pressure from the livestock industry prevailed, and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack and Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell jointly announced, “We do not believe that the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans are the appropriate vehicle for this important policy conversation about sustainability.” Instead, they advised the committee to focus solely on nutritional and dietary information. In her book Food Politics,


nutritionist and author Marion Nestle explains that recommendations to decrease consumption have never been popular with the food industry. Nonetheless, Roni Neff, Ph.D., who


24 Central Florida natural awakenings


directs the Center for a Livable Future’s Food System Sustainability and Public Health Program at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore, recommends consuming less red meat in particular, because of its large environmental footprint. Neff points out, “Thirty percent of greenhouse gas emissions are connected to red meat.” However, not all red meat is created equal. In her book Defending Beef, environmental lawyer and cattle rancher Nicolette Hahn Niman makes a case for sustainable meat production, noting, “Well-managed grazing could be part of an effective strategy to combat climate change.” In their book The New Livestock


Farmer, authors Rebecca Thistlethwaite and Jim Dunlop praise the increase in farmers producing pasture-raised, ethical meats and the growing number of farmers selling directly to people that reject the industrial system. Neff likewise supports such sustainable livestock agriculture, which integrates pasture-raised animals on farms, rather than isolating them on feedlots, where they typically eat a grain-based diet (such as genetically-engineered corn) and receive growth stimulants, including hormones and antibiotics.


Risky Hormones and Antibiotics


Mike Callicrate, a St. Francis, Kansas, rancher educated in the industrial model of meat production, is considered an expert on its negative consequences. He served as an advisor for Food Inc., and Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Callicrate observes, “The same chemical compounds that athletes are banned from using in baseball are used to produce our food animals, which our children eat in the hot dogs at the ballgame.”


According to the USDA, about


90 percent of feedlot cattle receive hormone implants to promote growth. Yet the European Union Scientifi c Committee on Veterinary Measures Relating to Public Health reports that the use of natural and artifi cial growth hormones in beef production poses a potential risk to human health, especially among children.


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