Reading food packages in the dark

I've already expressed my utter distrust for the USDA (and related agencies). And anyone who cares enough about what they eat to read this probably knows to take certain "labels" and claims on packaging with a grain of salt. Many already know, for instance, that "free range" doesn't really mean that Sally the Chicken is out there living her life under the sun, stretching her talons into nice grass. Rather it means that Sally probably lives in a pretty awful, dirty, cramped building, that has a little door in it that leads to a patch of grass. If Sally wanted she could go out that door and chill for all long as she wants. But she has never been out there and she will never go out there.

What does all this mean? That "free range" is a bunch of b.s. If you want to know that your chicken lived its life as a chicken (meaning it will produce tastier and healthier meat and eggs) then you want it to have lived in a pasture -- "pastured chicken" or "pastured eggs" so to speak. But perhaps more importantly you want to know where it is coming from. The risk here is that so many people realize the virtues of pastured eggs that the word is used inappropriately. Every claim on a package must be read with a massive grain of salt. (Take "all-vegetarian diet" for instance -- it's nice to know that your chickens weren't fed other chickens and may not have some future mad chicken disease but does it mean? Chickens eat worms and worms are not part of a vegetarian diet. From that alone you know it makes no sense. Other reasons we can leave aside for now.)

The concern overall is that people react to what they read and hear. These terms are often not regulated and when they are you can believe one thing: that the big companies will convince the USDA to stretch the regulation to include them. When that happens it has no meaning anymore. Your free range chickens are exactly the same as your not free range chickens.

Advocates and fans of the grassfed or pastured movement are now concerned that it is picking up enough that it will be next. When I think of grassfed cattle I think of a cow who lives its entire life on a pasture eating grass. This would be overseen by a farmer who never injects the cattle with antiobiotics and never feed anything but the grass on the ground or natural hay when the grass isn't growing (and careful here of the "grain finished" meat -- as it's a way a farmer can fatten up its cow at the end of its life using corn). But the USDA doesn't see it that way. As I understand it, grassfed beef farmers (the so called true "grass farmers") have been continually lobbying the USDA to restrict use of related terms to only the meaning as I understand it (as everyone who knows the term understands it). I am not aware of exactly how successful or unsuccessful that lobbying is but I don't have my fingers crossed. If you can make an "organic" twinkie using the USDA's regulated term (you can) then you will someday be able to buy a "grassfed" steak using the USDA regulated term from a cow that never lived on a pasture, was injected with antiobiotics, and who knows what else.

The good news is that we aren't there yet. The most prevelant grassfed beef available in my area is Tallgrass and it is true, 100% grassfed beef. Whole Foods won't buy lamb that is not 100% grass fed in the true meaning (access to pastures its entire life). But the day may come when this ends and it goes back to knowing what you are eating. Much of the beef, lamb, goat, chicken and turkey I've encountered that claims to be pasture-raised comes from farms that have websites where you can read all about the philosophy of the farm and the way the animals are raised. They are also sold at farmers markets where you can meet their representatives and look them in the eye, or at boutique shops that buy directly from the farm and you can look that person in the eye. I have found that such shops know I am serious about my inquiry and will not just say something to shut me up. Provenence in Logan Square (also has a Lincoln Square location) for instance, told me that they did not believe their poultry was pastured. I asked if their grassfed ground beef was grain finished and they looked up the farm on the internet and called them for me before answering.

Now not everyone will go to such lengths and most Americans need to go to Jewel, not Provenence, to buy their meat. But these stores don't change out brands that often so you can do your own research quite easily with a few Google searches and be the educated consumer that helps raise the quality of our food. And I always try to remember that no matter how bright it is under those supermarket lights, it's really dark in there and I can't really see what I'm looking at.