Beef Buzzwords: What you Need to Know

You may have heard the terms “grass-fed,” “natural” and “organic.” Here’s a breakdown of what they mean:

• Grass-fed: There are heated debates regarding the nutritional benefits of grass-fed beef and whether or not those benefits have any significant impact on human health. Some consumers believe grass-fed is best, while others believe a grass-only diet produces a distinctly gamey flavor.

• Natural: Natural beef must adhere to three specifications: no hormones, no preservatives and minimal processing. Many natural beef producers take those standards a step further with hormone-free and antibiotic-free programs, but the cattle are not handled and processed under USDA certification.

• Organic: Organic beef is certified by the USDA to be hormone-free, antibiotic-free and “organically produced.” Organic certification guarantees that a product exceeds conventional production standards, but it does not guarantee flavor or mean that an animal was necessarily grass-fed. It is important to remember that USDA certification is a complex process that many smaller ranches, producers and farmers cannot afford to go though. There are a lot of farmers who produce organic-compliant products that have not been USDA certified.

Food labels can tell us a lot about the food we eat, but they don’t tell us everything. At Ted’s Butcherblock, we make it our mission to know everything we can about the products we cary. That’s why our customers trust us to make thoughtful selections that represent superior flavor and responsible farming practices.