How Healthy Is the Meat You Are Consuming?

Unless it is labeled as "certified organic" or "hormone free," the meat we purchase from the grocery store is almost a certainty to have come from an animal that was given hormones to make it grow faster and larger or to produce more milk in order to increase factory farm profits. Additionally, the animal was routinely given low levels of antibiotics to control the diseases that are inevitable under the overcrowded, stressful, and inhumane conditions in which the animals spend the entirety of their lives in these operations. These hormones and antibiotic residues are present in the meat we eat and milk we drink.

The FDA and USDA state that these hormone residues are safe for human consumption and do not present health risks. The European Union's Scientific Committee on Veterinary Measures Relating to Public Health disagrees which has resulted in the banning of the use of hormones in cattle production in Europe as well as the banning of all beef imports from the United States where hormone supplementation is routine. There is a bill currently before the U.S. Congress to ban the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in farm animals due to the implication of their routine use as a contributory factor in the dangerous increase of antibiotic resistant pathogens that threaten public health.

We do have a choice. There are farms that raise livestock in a humane manner without hormones and antibiotics. Purchasing hormone-free meat online or from a market that stocks organic or locally produced foods not only puts healthier and better tasting meat on your family's plates but helps to support sustainable agriculture practices.