Recently, on the island where I live, a little shop opened up called Local Island Meats. Here, local farmers sell their farm grown meat, chicken, fish and eggs, all neatly packaged and separated in refrigerators and freezers baring each farm’s name and a brief description of their farming practices. The meat products are all further identified as organic, grain-fed or grass-fed.

As I browsed through the shop, the idea for an article comparing the flavor of grain-fed beef to grass-fed beef materialized. My original concept was to compare the taste of organic beef, regular beef sold in grocery stores, small farm grown grain-fed beef and grass-fed beef.

To prepare for the article, I researched the practices and results of grain-fed and grass-fed cattle. I quickly realized that the debate is far more health related than taste related. The factors that contribute to the end result include the animal’s diet, environment, (air, land, pollution) and the use of hormones, antibiotics, steroids and other drugs.

The Truth About Cows

Cows, as well as other grazing animals, are ruminants, which simply means that through multiple stomachs, they are able to convert grass into protein and fats. Their bodies are not engineered to process grain naturally.

Commercial feed lots feed grain to bring the cows to maximum weight, (about 1200 lbs.) in the shortest amount of time possible, (14-16 months). Since cows are not naturally built to process grain, converting them to grain is understandably disruptive to the animal’s digestive system and can only be done, without causing illness or death, with the use of antibiotics and other drugs. To further reduce costs, additions of by-product feed stuff may be added to the grain and can include many shocking ingredients including excess beef, which is one of the suspects of the cause of mad cow disease.

Besides the negative effects to the animals themselves, this unnatural diet also lessens the nutritional value of the meat. Compared to natural grass-fed beef, grain-fed beef has more total fat, saturated fat and calories. It has less Vitamin E, beta carotene and omega-3 fatty acids and, yes, it can taste better. That’s right, more fat translates to better taste and more tender beef.

So, what about that comparison?

Grass-fed beef is more expensive because of the obvious economics. However, the health benefits of grass-fed beef clearly win the comparison contest.

Grass-fed beef has about three times the Vitamin E as conventional fed cattle and 60% more omega-3 fatty acids. Grass-fed beef also have a higher level of another health promoting fat called conjugated linoleic acid or (CLA). CLA has been associated with a reduction of cancer, heart disease, the onset of diabetes and accumulated body fat.

Organic beef is not the same as grass-fed beef. Unless it specifically states that it has been grass-fed, it can mean that it has been fed organic grain.

This upsetting state of affairs poses a difficult challenge for those of us who enjoy beef and who are also good stewards of our health. Grass-fed beef is the obvious healthier choice but is expensive and not as readily available.

It’s been said that knowledge is strength. I say knowledge can be frightening. The more one knows about the practices of American food production, the scarier it gets. A friend of mine said, "You’re not going to get weird about this, are you?" My answer is, "Maybe". However, I am a believer in moderation and I think one should strive to live the healthiest lifestyle possible. It is not possible for most of us to eliminate all the toxic foods and food ingredients from our lives. Converting to a gluten-free diet once seemed impossible and now is the most natural diet I can imagine. What we can do, and as Celiacs must do, is to be aware of what is in the food we eat and make good choices.

If the saying is true, ‘You are what you eat’, we should all take a hard look at the way our food supply is produced and managed. As for me, I’m making the switch to grass-fed beef and by doing so hope that I will contribute in a small way to a better way of doing things for my health and for my conscience.