What Does Grass Finished Meat Mean

Labels can be confusing across meat producers.

What does grass finished meat mean.

With all the testing we ve done recently around the levels of nutrition in our meat we felt it was a good time to discuss this topic further. This results in meat that is just like conventional feedlot beef 1 or beef that is very lean and contains little fat 2. At the grocery store that means grass finished beef may be marketed as grass fed beef but not vice versa. What does grass finished mean.

Written by dennis keohane on february 7 2020 the term grass fed as it applies to beef has been in use for quite a while. The diet shall be derived solely from forage consisting of grass annual and perennial forbs e g legumes brassica browse or cereal grain crops in the. While this term is still not tightly regulated it is much harder for unscrupulous purveyors to develop workarounds for this label. The ranchers we partner with raise their cattle on pasture eating grass and forages.

What is grass finished beef and why does it matter. For example grass fed can mean that confined animals in feedlots can be fed grass at any point. Moreover grass fed cows are not necessarily pasture raised. What does grass fed grass finished mean.

Every option is high quality with great flavor. No supplemental growth hormones. We re pleased to offer the best selection of beef around with organic grass fed local dry aged and grain finished choices. What does grain finished mean.

And keep in mind that grass fed cows are not necessarily pasture raised. All of our fresh beef must meet our basic meat department standards and be animal welfare certified. For most it elicits the idea of an idyllic cow on the range eating natural grass. The difference between finishing cattle on grain instead of grass is ultimately taste and at tony s we prefer the enhanced marbling and flavor from grass fed grain finished beef.

At verde our beef is 100 grass fed grass finished organic and free range beef. Grass finished means the animal has reached physical maturity and was kept on grass while developing exterior and intramuscular fat. We explain the nuances of these definitions in this blog post. Grass forage fed means that grass and forage shall be the feed source consumed for the lifetime of the ruminant animal with the exception of milk consumed prior to weaning.

The importance of grass finished. In order to call meat grass. Feedlots can still market this meat as grass fed or grass fed and grain finished if you see that specific wording on a package buck said you cannot be certain that the cow was truly 100. Meat that has been designated grass finished is much more likely to come from cows that consumed only grass throughout their entire lives.

We are often asked. You should be wary of beef that can make the grass fed claim but not grass finished.