Organic Meat for a Greener Diet
Why eat organic meat?
Most people like to eat meat. There’s no doubt that meat-eating can form part of a healthy diet
Organic Meat for a Greener Diet
Why eat organic meat?
Most people like to eat meat. There’s no doubt that meat-eating can form part of a healthy diet.
But how healthy is that for the planet? And how sustainable is it? Is it worth eating organic meat - is it actually better - or greener?
This page looks at some of the issues and outlines some of the benefits of eating organically-produced meat.
A troubled industry
The meat industry in Britain and other western nations has been in trouble recently.
The causes of BSE in particular have been found in the farming practices which have emerged in the last 30 or 40 years. Animals such as cows which, as everyone knows, are clearly vegetarian had been fed a diet which included meat by-products. There have been heart-rending scenes in the media of animals slaughtered because of disease.
Animal welfare The health and well-being of many factory-farmed animals is well below acceptable standards. And, aside from the humane issues of animal husbandry, much of the meat produced is of low quality, laced with chemical residues and nutritionally poor .
Present standards of husbandry on non-organic farms allow the routine use of growth-promoting antibiotics in the raising of livestock for meat. For example broiler chickens in the UK now grow at twice the rate of 30 years ago.
Some countries allow the routine use of hormones too.
Birds are raised in cramped and stressed conditions without access to daylight and fresh air. All this is often conveniently hidden from public view inside intensive battery farms, many of which have sophisticated security systems to keep away members of the public.
If you want to know more about factory farming please see .
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall runs a campaign to get British supermarkets to drop factory farmed chicken and buy free-range only. This is an on-going campaign which is producing great results in Britain and has also produced waves further afield.
Pressure
The pressure to produce more, cheaper, faster, and bigger (but not better) has everyone in thrall.
But in the aftermath of all the misery of ruined farmers and mass slaughter programmes, more people are turning to organic meat. And more people are experiencing and understanding the benefits of going organic.
What is better about organic meat? Organic standards are quite high. All the foodstuffs given to the animals on an organic farm have to be organic and GM free. There are strict regulations about medical treatments which are allowed. For example, the use of antibiotics is quite restricted.
The Soil Association does a great job in Britain developing and assessing standards. In the US the Organic Consumers Association lobbies to maintain organic standards.
However, there are increasing pressures from companies wanting to produce factory-farmed organic meat - a complete contradiction if ever there was one!
If a farm gets organic certification from the Soil ...
But how healthy is that for the planet? And how sustainable is it? Is it worth eating organic meat - is it actually better - or greener?
This page looks at some of the issues and outlines some of the benefits of eating organically-produced meat.
A troubled industry
The meat industry in Britain and other western nations has been in trouble recently.
The causes of BSE in particular have been found in the farming practices which have emerged in the last 30 or 40 years. Animals such as cows which, as everyone knows, are clearly vegetarian had been fed a diet which included meat by-products. There have been heart-rending scenes in the media of animals slaughtered because of disease.
Animal welfare The health and well-being of many factory-farmed animals is well below acceptable standards. And, aside from the humane issues of animal husbandry, much of the meat produced is of low quality, laced with chemical residues and nutritionally poor.
Present standards of husbandry on non-organic farms allow the routine use of growth-promoting antibiotics in the raising of livestock for meat. For example broiler chickens in the UK now grow at twice the rate of 30 years ago.
Some countries allow the routine use of hormones too.
Birds are raised in cramped and stressed conditions without access to daylight and fresh air. All this is often conveniently hidden from public view inside intensive battery farms, many of which have sophisticated security systems to keep away members of the public.
If you want to know more about factory farming please see.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall runs a campaign to get British supermarkets to drop factory farmed chicken and buy free-range only. This is an on-going campaign which is producing great results in Britain and has also produced waves further afield.
Pressure
The pressure to produce more, cheaper, faster, and bigger (but not better) has everyone in thrall.
But in the aftermath of all the misery of ruined farmers and mass slaughter programmes, more people are turning to organic meat. And more people are experiencing and understanding the benefits of going organic.
What is better about organic meat? Organic standards are quite high. All the foodstuffs given to the animals on an organic farm have to be organic and GM free. There are strict regulations about medical treatments which are allowed. For example, the use of antibiotics is quite restricted.
The Soil Association does a great job in Britain developing and assessing standards. In the US the Organic Consumers Association lobbies to maintain organic standards.
However, there are increasing pressures from companies wanting to produce factory-farmed organic meat - a complete contradiction if ever there was one!
If a farm gets organic certification from the Soil ...
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