The Savvy Shopper's Guide to: Food From Free Range Animals

This is the last post in the Savvy Shopper series! This post has taken me awhile to write, mainly because it is hard to find unbiased facts about this specific topic. Today I am going to be discussing food from free range animals. This is a seriously growing trend with all the animal rights activists, and animal welfare. I’m going to start by defining free range, and then I’m going to try something new. I want to compare the cold-hard facts about free range animals to an article written by PETA. Saying PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is like a saying a really bad word to people in my industry. For those who don’t know, PETA really wants everyone to become a vegan. They’ve had several law suits against them, and they make law suits against several individuals and companies every year. PETA believes that animals are being enslaved to humans and don’t want people to own pets. Okay, there’s your background on PETA; with that said I am going to try my very hardest to provide you with an unbiased, fact-filled counter argument to the article that you can read here.

 To the USDA the term free-range mainly applies to poultry, but can be applied to any animal. To be considered free range, producers have to show the USDA that the animals have access to the outside¹. The reason you don’t hear the term free range applied to beef is because all beef cattle have access to the outside so, grass-fed is a term you hear more often with non-conventional beef cattle. Food from free range animals is growing in popularity for one reason only: people often think that free range animals are happier, and treated better than conventionally raised animals. While I agree with PETA that this is untrue, I do not think that they are treated any better or worse than conventionally raised animals and here’s why…

PETA claims that free range animals are often unclean, covered in feces and mud.  Well, I am not going to disprove that. It’s true. Any animal raised outside is going to be dirty. They aren’t caked in feces but they do roll in mud, especially when it’s hot! The mud cools the animals down. If an animal is caked in feces or a stall isn’t cleaned out regularly it can cause the animal problems, but not the natural amount of dirty than an animal gets from being outside. They also claim that an animal can be labeled organic as long as it’s given organic feed. This is definitely untrue as you know if you read my post on organic food. However, they then contradict themselves by saying cows lose their organic status if given antibiotics. That’s a bit confusing because they don’t seem to know the actual definition of organic. PETA goes on to say that because of this loss of status, animals are denied antibiotics. This is not true. Any animal that is found sick will be isolated from the other animals to prevent spreading of sickness, given antibiotics, and labeled as conventional when the withdrawal period for the drug is over. (A withdrawal time is how long the animal has to wait to be processed for food after the treatment is over.)

PETA says, “cattle have their horns cut off and their testicles cut out… [pigs] have their tails cut off and their ears notched, and some have rings forced into their sensitive noses.” The wording in this sounds terrible. Really, dehorning is more humane so that the animals don’t get their horns caught in fences or feeding troughs, and they don’t harm or bruise each other when playing. There are different methods of dehorning cattle including one that is a paste to prevent the horn from growing, which involves no blood or cutting. The most advisory way to get polled (without horns) cattle is genetics! Many cattle owners today opt to breed for polled cattle so they don’t have to deal with dehorning at all. With castration (removal of the testicles) there are also different methods though the most common is complete removal of testes and scrotum. Contrary to PETA’s statement that these animals get no painkillers, both procedures use local anesthetics and pharmaceutical painkillers². As for ear notching and nose rings in pigs, well that’s just like getting your nose or ears pierced. Those areas are cartilage and don’t require painkillers or numbing. They continue with chickens saying that they have part of their “sensitive beaks” cut off.” Chickens have their beaks trimmed to prevent cannibalism and feather pecking³!! The only issues that occur with beak trimming are when the trimmings are done on poultry 5 weeks or older. They are recommended to do it between 5 and 10 days of age to prevent problems.

To close, we are going to talk about the actual slaughter and processing of the animals. I have personally been in a processing facility and had hands on experience with the procedures mandated by law. There are several careful steps that go into processing an animal for food. Also, nowhere in the rule book does it say that free range or organic animals have to be processed in a separate packing plant from conventional animals. PETA makes it sound like conventional and free range should never come within eye sight of each other, when in reality nearly all large-scale conventional farms have an organic or free range branch of operation. It makes sense that they are processed at the same place. In every packing plant small or large, animals have to be treated right and processed properly by law. No exceptions. There is ALWAYS at least one inspector from the USDA at each facility making sure the laws are followed. Of course, there are more inspectors at larger facilities. Animals have to be rendered unconscious immediately, before anything else is done. PETA’s version is this “they are hung upside down and their throats are cut, often while they’re still conscious and trying to escape.” No. Animals are NOT conscious when anything else happens. That is one of Temple Grandin’s absolute rules: 1. The animal must not be fearful and 2. The animal must be pain free!

At the end of the article PETA comes to the conclusion that the only humane foods are those that don’t come from animals. After polluting your mind with things that are out of context and untrue, they offer you a vegan starter kit. I want to assure you that farmers and packers do their best to treat these animals well. Not just for the animal, but for you and me and themselves. I know I took a wild turn with this post and it probably wasn’t what you expected at all after the last three, but I hope it gave you some insight on why it’s okay to buy conventional or free range foods. Be a savvy shopper and remember that the only real difference between the labels is that one animal was guaranteed access to the outside! Let me know in the comments below what you thought about this post, this series, or if you have any questions!

1.       USDA Meat and Poultry Labeling. http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/food-labeling/meat-and-poultry-labeling-terms/meat-and-poultry-labeling-terms/!ut/p/a1/jZFRb4IwEMc_DY-lx3AG90ZIFmUTZsxm5WUpehSS0pK2jrhPP9wyExed9p569_vn7v5HC8poofhHI7hrtOLy8C_G77CAcTBJIM0nwSPMsrdF_pQkEC3vB2D9D5CFN-ovvBiu6dMbGtyZeTIXtOi4q0mjKk2ZQEe4sj0aS1ml9ZZYXqHbk4pvHLE1ovstSF6ibJSgrEV-UG1Jp3fSmf2xRBya1l4HVrQ4HReCIWZZuBxN0yyEfPQXOOPnD3DZsMERIXX5fbx1rMowGlY3WKFB4-_MkK6d6-yDBx70fe8LrYVEf6NbD85Jam0dZack7dpX9vkcT6F5aVeRjb8Ay-NlYw!!/#4

2.       “Timing and Method is everything for dehorning and castration.”Mushrush, Laura. CattleNetwork. September 11, 2014. Accessed Feb. 2, 2016.

3.       “Current Developments in Beak Trimming.” Dr. Cheng, Heng-wei. USDA-ARS-MWA Livestock Behavior Research Unit. 2010. Accessed Feb. 2, 2016.