Organic Meat
In another post, we talked about trade-offs with organic produce. In this post we revisit organics but from an animal and meat point of view. Topics of animal welfare and environmental issues are emotional for many. Let us just acknowledge that right out of the gate. We will discuss some of that and what organic means when it comes to livestock and what it doesn’t. We found that organic meat gives us all better options but they come with costly trade-offs.
Emotional Callout; You Do You
We will start with the emotional part first. Many of us are happily far removed from how our food is raised and slaughtered. The reality is, that an animal must die to produce meat and nothing can change that outcome. If you eat meat, that must occur. How the animal lives and dies and whether it is humane or not is the question of organic meat. Even if not slaughtered, as in the case of dairy and eggs, organics look for humane conditions for the animals.
We assert emotions are born out of personal ethical context due to this process and not in our purview to discuss. A person’s morals and beliefs are personal in nature and subjective. What is humane to one person is inconsequential to another. Even if someone wants to purchase organic food to support the humane treatment of animals their finances may not support paying the premium. This is why we are not going to try and persuade anyone one way or another what is right and wrong for them.
What does Organic Mean?
The USDA defines a set of rules that define organic known as Organic Livestock and Poultry Standards (OLPS). Animal welfare advocates had a part in defining these rules. There is no need to restate what the USDA has written so we won’t. In summary, the organic program is really about the environmental impact of and issues with raising livestock in factory farms.
We started to look into this subject for our health based on our calorie budgets and economics. We could find very little evidence it was other than an increased risk of becoming resistant to antibiotics. Yes, some items sound terrible in non-organic production such as ionic radiation and sewer sludge. Taking a completely emotionless look at this subject proved challenging though. Every straight answer had a counterpoint or felt like marketing over fact.
It’s Opinion not Facts
What we ran into was all of this is opinion and debate. Unfortunately, opinion and debate are not facts. The name sewer sludge sounds terrible which is why it is being called Bio-solids now. It is used as fertilizer, is highly regulated, and is tested for safety. It is not allowed to help grow crops for organic meat to graze on. On the flip side, many people take pride in using Zoo Manure in home gardens. Zoo Manure is regulated composted fecal matter. Both are regulated, so why is one better than the other?
This leads us back to the subjective problem based on our understanding and risk factors. There are trade-offs when reading up on both of these types of fertilizer. Is it a case of words and perceptions that we are dealing with? The reality is, that even farm labor has caused outbreaks of E. Coli. It isn’t simple.
No on GMO?
We also ran into other statements around synthetics (chemicals) and non-GMO-based foods. Again, organic farming may bar GMO-based foods from organic labeled products however, there is no real evidence of GMO-based products harming a person. In the sciences, it takes years and years of evidence before something is labeled ‘correct’ so again this is subjective.
In terms of synthetics, some may still be part of organic food. The USDA does limit but does not bar all chemical use in organic foods. There are specific limits and requirements around their use but it is not necessarily 100% chemical-free.
We Gave Up Here
Because everything was becoming subjective we simply gave up on some areas of this topic. We felt like we were looking for an answer to the unanswerable. The more we read, the more it felt existential and personal over scientific. It was like asking are cars good? We decided instead to look at the animal welfare and environment parts of the story.
The Animals and Environment
Organically raised livestock does have benefits. These benefits include
- The animals have more room and a better quality of life.
- Raising animals in a much more environmentally friendly
- Limits the possibility and impact of outbreaks of disease.
All of that is great. We don’t believe anyone wants to be less humane or less environmentally friendly. Here is the problem, it costs more and yet still has problems. When we looked into organic for our needs we expected to find it was simply better. There are trade-offs to it as well.
Buy or Don’t, That’s Up To You
Unfortunately, the more we tried to peel the onion, the bigger the onion became. Because data takes time to accumulate, and we are discussing planet-scale problems, it is hard to have a simple yes or no answer for everyone. There are over 8 billion of us running around on this planet. No one choice fits all.
Wrapping Up
We started this seeking clarity but found enough unanswerable questions that do not allow a simple answer of whether organic is good or bad. What we have discussed is the positive aspects of organic in terms of animal welfare. We also know that, in general, organics help preserve local biodiversity. Organic-raised meat also provides checks and balances for stopping disease outbreaks. All of this comes at a premium cost-wise. That leaves this subject as being a personal decision to pay the premium for those benefits.