Word: beefing
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...corn and soybeans. When animals are 100% grass-fed, their meat is not only lower in saturated fats but also slightly higher in omega-3 fatty acids, the healthy fats found in salmon and flaxseed, which studies indicate may help prevent heart disease and bolster the immune system. Ground beef and milk from grass-finished cattle also have more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which recent data suggest may help prevent breast cancer, diabetes and other ailments. Moreover, grass-finished meat is higher than grain-finished meat in vitamin A and vitamin E, two antioxidants thought to boost resistance to disease...
...only after World War II that the U.S. began confining cattle in factory farms that can fatten 50,000 head a year on high-calorie grain. Until then, cattle grazed on grass their full lives--as they still mostly do in Europe, South America, New Zealand and other beef-producing nations. The new U.S. system grew thanks to vast surpluses of government-subsidized corn and soybeans, produced with modern petroleum-based fertilizers. Traditionally, steers had taken three to four years to fatten on pasture. Today they grow to slaughter size in less than two years--an efficient industrial process that...
...feedlot beef has the taste and uniformity that U.S. consumers have come to expect. Grass-fed meat, by contrast, varies according to the breed of cattle and the pasture on which it was raised. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), which represents ranchers and feedlots, welcomes grass-finished beef as another market choice but contends that it is no healthier than grain fed. NCBA nutritionist Mary Young acknowledges that grass-fed beef has "slightly" more omega-3 fats than grain fed but says the amount is negligible compared with those in salmon, which has 35 times more. And while...
...meat. Although USDA inspections are supposed to detect E. coli, the system is not perfect. In 1993, 600 people in Seattle got sick and three children died after eating E. coli-- tainted hamburger. Since then, outbreaks have triggered more recalls and led to a federal recommendation that consumers cook beef thoroughly. According to USDA research, more than half of grain-fed cattle have been found to have acid-resistant E. coli in their feces; the proportion drops to 15% if they are switched...
...disease, which can jump to humans in the form of a fatal brain illness, is another concern. It's believed to be a product of serving cattle parts to cattle. The practice was banned in the U.S. in 1997, but beef tallow is still allowed in feed (along with other "supplements" like chicken feathers)--a source of continuing controversy...