Whole Foods is having a one-day sale on grass-fed ground beef this Friday, September 3 – it will be $3.99/lb, one day only, and is a nationwide sale, according to their blog.
I did some research on Whole Foods’ grass-fed beef, because if you’ve ever looked into food labeling much, you know that terms like all-natural, grass-fed, and even hormone-free (when used in regards to poultry) don’t really mean a whole lot. I was pleased to find out that Whole Foods’ grass-fed beef does seem like it would be worth paying more for.
Here’s what I found: the grass-fed beef sold at Colorado Whole Foods stores is raised at Lasater Ranch in Matheson, Colorado (just up Highway 24 from the Springs). According to their website, “they spend their entire lives grazing in open pastures and are never confined in feedlots or fed grain. They are not given growth hormones or low-level antibiotics and are not treated with pesticides.”
Their beef is not certified organic, but I’m not sure it’s even possible to certify hundreds of acres of open prairie as organic!
I’ve actually been working on a few posts about food labeling, organic standards, and poultry standards. I hope to have them ready soon, but wanted to give you more information on the grass-fed beef that’s on sale at Whole Foods this Friday so that you can be a savvy consumer and decide if the higher price tag is worth it for you.
Thanks to Saving Naturally for the sale tip!
How does the beef at Whole Foods compare to the beef at Ranch Foods?
Ranch Foods would be my choice over others as far as beef goes, except for maybe small area farmers, and a couple other brands at Natural Grocers. They really put a lot of care into what they do.
This is actually an awesome deal if you are a beef-eater and prefer organic foods. Typically it’s 4.99-6.99 lb, and that includes Buffalo.
I am not 100% sure that the grass fed burger at Whole Foods is Lasater. I would ask more questions. They may use a small amount of Lasater for the name, but maybe not for the burger.
Ranch Foods Direct has a special on hamburger Mon, Tues, Wed, Buy 2 get 1 free. It figures to be about $3.33/lb.
If you insist on ‘grass fed’ go to Whole Foods. If you are looking for good antibiotic/hormone free, go to Ranch Foods Direct
Not sure if I linked to this page in the article, but I’m basing the info what’s contained on this page: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/grassfedbeef/ranchers.php, which says that “grass-fed beef from Lasater Grassland Beef is available in our stores in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Utah”.
I guess that does NOT say that it’s exclusively Lasater beef.
Bill, we should work something out with some taste tests or something for Ranch Foods. Email me!
Carrie, one thing you can count on is the use of those words doesn’t guarantee anything much really. The FDA is still struggling against lobbyists in terminology use. While my field is obviously not edible contents, they’ve been trying to regulate terms like natural and organic for years. I’m one of the few home manufacturers *for* the regulation and registration. It’s a small cost, but would help my consumers out and I have nothing to hide. Too many fly by nights making unsafe products giving our industry, especially home businesses, a bad name. Legislation for my industry along with the food industry is consistently stalling or being sent back to the drawing board. Did you know, I can slap anything in a bottle, including battery acid and poison ivy, into any bottle and call it organic? Scary stuff when you think about it. Any company, large or small, can do this. One benefit to me for doing my business though is that I don’t use machines which can leak hydraulic fluids into mass production. For many, that outweighs the risks and I try to always answer many questions from people to help them understand. This is for cosmetics, but many of the same info applies to food items.
http://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/ProductandIngredientSafety/ProductInformation/ucm203078.htm
Here is the specific section on labeling for food:
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2010/janqtr/7cfr205.305.htm
For example, all-natural has no regulation or oversight in any industry. The reason for this is that you can’t get a single thing in the world without starting with a “natural” compound or chemical. Organic for me, means only 70% of the product must be made with organic materials. To get the certified products, they only have to have that same 70% (some products I use are the same that you would use in food). That means by the time a product goes from start to finish with other ingredients (say milk bath), it’s less than 20% organic. To get certified organic, your operation has to be, but the products you use don’t have to be. So a farm is certified organic and hormone free – it doesn’t mean they don’t spray the feed areas or grazing pastures with chemical cleaners, pesticides, etc. Certain labels on food means that farm doesn’t use pesticides, but it doesn’t mean they started with seeds or soil that wasn’t treated before. I believe the minimum for certs not to have chemical use is 3 years. We know from studies that certain chemicals take decades to break down.
Now, all that aside, organic doesn’t mean safer in any industry. There is some evidence over the last 10 years that it may actually be more harmful than products that are not organic or “natural”. Without the use of some chemicals, which are used well under safe limits, the presence of natural bacterias and bugs that carry disease could be more harmful to your health than the minute chance of ingestion for some products. If you are cleaning your fruits properly, there is also evidence that by the time you actually consume the product, the chemicals used are not present in lab testing. This argument though, while intriguing, is only for some products as well. There is so many variants on the product, the farm, your hygiene habits at home, which chemical is/was used, what produce or meat it is, and so on.
The best sources of information are from .edu sites on studies, the FDA and the National Organic Program. When I got my first death threat for paraffin candles, the basis of the argument for this person was studies done by the Iowa Soybean Association and several soy candle manufacturer’s who claimed a 90% cancer rate from paraffin candles. Sadly, they can claim anything they want to, including some information that soy candles cured cancer if you dumped the wax onto yourself!
If you want a few other write ups I have done for my business and for other businesses of my friends who do a range of things from cosmetics to home made food sales, while not specific to foods, I’ll be more than happy to send them along for your perusal. P.S. Forgive the passion, I’ve encountered it so much, that there are some hard myths to get down because of the multibillion dollar “natural” and “organic” industry.
Feel free to email me whatever, Mary! We’re thinking along the same lines for sure! My struggle in finishing up the posts I’ve started is how to conclude the information. I want to help people understand what food labels mean something and which ones don’t – but I can’t really say that I buy all organic so I want to make sure it all makes sense as to why I’m presenting the information. :)
Hoping to post some things along this line next week.
I am excited about this sale here in Dallas (if it’s truly nationwide) because my friend Lauren supplies the grass-fed beef to our local Dallas location Whole Foods markets! Her ranch is local, and me and my neighbors buy Nitschke Natural Beef straight from her or get it from Whole Foods. And it is SUPERIOR. Yeah! Thanks for the heads-up.
Just talked with Lasater. They do not provide any of their meat to out of state Whole Food stores. They provide about 2 head per month to the store on Powers and 1 per month to the one on North Academy, both stores in Colorado Springs. Certainly not enough to supply very much ground beef. Where is it coming from?