I just saw a commercial from Perdue saying their chickens are not given homones and steroids. I am sure this "new," more healthy alternative will cost you a bit more at the grocery, if food prices weren't high enough already.
Well, guess what? All the chicken at the grocery store is produced without hormones and steroids. My good friend who works for the Kentucky Poultry Federation told me that hormone use in chickens has been illegal since 1952. So, leave it to good old-fashioned marketing to make you believe you are getting a better product.
Now, if someone tells you that your food is full of homones, they are correct. Any living thing produces hormones naturally. Even plants.
Let's talk about a hotter topic, antibiotics. I am not one to pay more for animal products produced without antibiotics. One, there are strict guidelines that require the animal to be free of antiobiotics before harvest, and the products are tested, especially milk. If antibiotics are found in a truck load of milk, it is destroyed and the dairy farmer is not paid. I have heard that milk is more heavily tested than your drinking water.
My second line of reasoning is for the well-being of the animal. If an animal has an infection, I want it to be given medicine to be healthy. We do the same for ourselves and our children. The simple logic for me is, "why would I want to eat an animal that has been sick?"
That said, I am a regular consumer of all natural venison... free range and grass/bark/dirt fed. But I am very careful to make sure the meat is cooked properly... who knows what kind of diseases the local deer might have. I am much much more confident about the safety of meat I get from farms.
I heard an interesting story not too long ago. A chicken company that I won't name told me that they also started a "more natural" brand of product touting no antibiotics, which was obviously done to meet a marketing niche. He said that the chickens became infected with e coli within a week of being placed in the facility, yet they had never had a health issue with the conventionally-raised chickens.
Hmmm.
Practical mom of two shares her journey to providing good food to her family and the unique parenting situations surrounding eating habits.
Great article. I want to make sure my cattle stay healthy and when they do get sick, get back to do health as fast as possible - antibiotics help me do this. I feel safe knowing that even though I am using them, they are not ending up in the food my family or neighbors eat.
ReplyDeletewww.cdycattle.blogspot.com
Antibiotics are necessary in the system of production used by most farmers. Inclusion of antibiotics in feed have been shown to increase rates of gain. The vast majority of antibiotics used in production are prophylactic, not to treat individual sicknesses.
ReplyDeleteI produce beef for direct sale to local consumers. While we do use antibiotics in the rare case where an animal is sick, we do NOT use them routinely in feed. If an animal is benefitting from the inclusion of antibiotics in it's daily diet, then that animal's system is being stressed. In our pasture-based production system, they show no benefit.
My customers don't have a problem with treating animals, but they DO prefer to have meat produced from animals that are healthy enough not to need them daily.
Thank you for understanding that as livestock producers we only want to do what is right by the animals, ie keeping them healthy, in an effort to raise the safest, most nutritious product in the world!
ReplyDeleteHi Food Mommy,
ReplyDeleteYou said a chicken producer you know tried to produce chickens without antibiotics. You said, "A chicken company… started a "more natural" brand of product touting no antibiotics, which was obviously done to meet a marketing niche. He said that the chickens became infected with e coli within a week of being placed in the facility, yet they had never had a health issue with the conventionally-raised chickens."
Have you considered the living conditions in an industrial chicken facility? If a commercial operator tries to grow chickens "naturally" in a high density environment, of course the birds are going to get sick. Industrial chicken facilities are also the perfect breeding ground for "super-bugs". Industrial chicken facilities combine high density, high stress, and chronic use of antibiotics. Continuous use of the facility gives no time to break the pathogen cycle. All of these factors contribute to illness in livestock. I am not surprised your farmer had health problems.
I am surprised that the farmer "never had a health issue with the conventionally-raised chickens". This is very surprising. My cousin used to have a confinement chicken operation. Everyday we would walk through the stench and pick up all the dead birds that didn't make it through the night. Without antibiotics, under those incredibility stressful conditions, all the birds would die. Do you really want to eat an animal that has lived such a horrible life? Do you think the food produced in such a way is really healthy?
If you want to have healthy birds start with a healthy environment. If you want to grow birds without antibiotics, raise them in small groups on green pasture under the bight light of the sun. Move the chicken pens everyday to new, clean pasture. The birds will eat the grass and any bugs available. Many grass-fed producers also supplement the chicken's diet with soaked and sprouted grains, kelp, and sea salt.
If you are interested in learning more about pasturing chickens please read Joel Salatin's book Pastured Poultry Profits.