So a while back I got into this book, Real Food: What to Eat and Why.
I really liked it because it talked about the health benefits of getting back to natural foods, pure, raw, unprocessed, the way God gave them to us. It just felt right you know? I also watched this video I found on Netflix called Food Inc. (click here to watch a 2-min preview) It opened my eyes to where my food comes from, and how inhumanely some animals are treated as they are raised, and how they are pumped with antibiotics and hormones to quicken their growth. You are what you eat people, and if an animal is full of antibiotics and hormones and is extremely stressed because of poor living conditions and crappy food, then how good can it be for your body to eat it?
I resolved to pay more attention to the food I eat, not just the nutrition label but where it comes from and how it is made. I don't want to be a vegetarian, I just want happy healthy animals in my body :) Now every time I go to the store, I look at labels, but labels are so confusing. What exactly do they all mean? So I looked them up and I focused on CHICKEN since it's probably the most common meat Americans eat, and eggs are a staple.
Cage-free: this just means that the chickens weren't raised in cages (hallelujah), but housed in big barns that are ventilated and temperature controlled. They are free to roam, but only inside the barn and only to the extent they have room (those barns can get pretty crowded).
Free-range: these chickens are cage-free (roaming free in a barn) and have access to the outdoors. There is no regulation as to how much access to the outdoors, but some is better than none.
All Natural: This means the chicken contains no artificial ingredients for color or preservation. But this term can be confusing because they can inject it with "natural" products like water, salt, seaweed extract or broth to beef it up, make it bigger/heavier/plumper. Oooh tricky. So for a truly natural chicken look for the label "100% Natural with no additives". Also, if there are no preservatives that usually means it came from a local farm since the travel distance is less.
Vegetarian fed: Believe it or not some chicken feed has animal by-product in it (ground-up dead animal), gross! So this term is used to tell consumers their chickens were not fed other chickens. Ha! The only problem is chickens are actually omnivores by nature, since they eat bugs and stuff. So the most natural kind of chicken, roaming freely outside daily, actually can't be labeled vegetarian fed. Ain't that funny.
No Hormones Added: this label is supposed to draw you in...duh, duh, duh...but is actually useless since the FDA has now prohibited the use of hormones or steroids.
Organic: This means the chicken was never given antibiotics, growth hormones, contains no artificial additives or preservatives, and was fed with product grown organically (without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, "synthetic" is the key word, they can use environmental friendly fertilizers/pesticides). This term definitely implies a more humane treatment of animals but I typically think it is overrated unless you firmly believe animals should only eat food grown without pesticides. I'm not that fanatic....yet ;)
Next I looked up some major poultry brands to give me some clarity on what to buy at the store.
Tyson: Please don't buy this chicken people.
After searching all over their website, I found very little information on how they care for their animals. Instead, they talk about how many programs they have developed to ensure animal well-being, how they conduct facility audits regularly, how they train employees about animal well-being. Their whole "animal well-being" section is about certification, training, monitoring, and auditing, and mentions nothing about the animals! Well, I took the absence of this information to mean one thing, they don't really want you to know. I read through their mission statement which was all about growing the business by driving out inefficiency and said nothing about providing quality food. Tyson states that one of its core values is to "strive to honor God and be respectful of each other." What about respecting your food? Their aim is to be the nation's leader in poultry production, and I must say they have achieved that. You know why? Because they're the cheapest. Before hatching, chicks are vaccinated against disease right in the egg. Then upon hatching they are vaccinated again to prevent respiratory infections. They raise chickens in cage-free barns (but they don't talk about the conditions of the barns) that are genetically engineered to grow really big really fast (can't use hormones anymore, shoot). Then they are slaughtered and injected with color and preservatives to keep the meat fresh and looking good. FYI- they supply to KFC.
Foster Farms: This looks decent.
They looked a lot better. Their website had a myriad of information on animal well-being. They raise their chickens cage-free (like Tyson, except they took pride in the conditions of their barns). They allow their chickens to mature naturally without growth hormones or steroids. They don't add artificial color or flavor to the meat and no preservatives or synthetic ingredients. 100% Natural. They do exercise prudent use of antibiotics (which is expected since in such a massive group of chickens there is bound to be a sick one here and there). They state that "keeping our poultry comfortable and well treated is a priority for Foster Farms and ensures excellent health and development." Amen.
Perdue: Don't buy this.
The information I found on Perdue's website was very similar to Tyson. They raise their chickens cage-free, but made no mention of the barn conditions. They did say they have no need to use growth hormones because their birds are genetically engineered to have greater meat-to-bone ratio than any other chicken breed. Uhhh...if you watch Food Inc. they will show you how chickens grow so fast and so unaturally big that their skeleton cannot support their weight gain and they literally cannot walk and their bones break. Pretty much found very little information on how they raise chickens and a lot of boasting about the business history and how they were the first company to put a brand name on chicken. As far as poultry welfare goes they talked about how they have audits and do poultry welfare training and have vetrinarians on hand and stuff. Pretty much standard stuff you would expect as a minimum from any poultry company.
Sanderson: This one looks good.
This company seemed more like Foster Farms, very committed to raising healthy chickens naturally. They also raise cage-free chickens, looks like this is the most common method now. They don’t add anything to the chicken after processing, no additives, artificial ingredients or preservatives. They use antibiotics if required to keep chickens healthy (understandable in my opinion). They made a big point about producing 100% Natural chicken, with NO additives. "Sanderson chicken is always a single ingredient product: 100% natural chicken."
In Conclusion....
1) Free-range is best. Cage-free is second. And I wouldn't even consider chicken or eggs without this labeling because that means the chickens are crammed into tiny cages their whole lives without even enough room to spread their wings. Unfortunately this is usually the LEAST EXPENSIVE choice at the grocery store and what most people buy.
2) Please DON'T BUY Tyson or Perdue products. They are great in business, bad in animal welfare, which means your welfare if you eat their animals.
3) Just look at the labeling people. Don't be afraid to spend a little more on good healthy food. It'll all comes around in the long run. Remember you are what you eat!
The safest way to ensure you’re getting the most natural product possible? Just raise your own animals and grow your own food......(pause for effect)....okay okay, I know that's not reasonable for everyone, but that would be the best way to ensure your food's quality.
Cage-free: this just means that the chickens weren't raised in cages (hallelujah), but housed in big barns that are ventilated and temperature controlled. They are free to roam, but only inside the barn and only to the extent they have room (those barns can get pretty crowded).
Free-range: these chickens are cage-free (roaming free in a barn) and have access to the outdoors. There is no regulation as to how much access to the outdoors, but some is better than none.
All Natural: This means the chicken contains no artificial ingredients for color or preservation. But this term can be confusing because they can inject it with "natural" products like water, salt, seaweed extract or broth to beef it up, make it bigger/heavier/plumper. Oooh tricky. So for a truly natural chicken look for the label "100% Natural with no additives". Also, if there are no preservatives that usually means it came from a local farm since the travel distance is less.
Vegetarian fed: Believe it or not some chicken feed has animal by-product in it (ground-up dead animal), gross! So this term is used to tell consumers their chickens were not fed other chickens. Ha! The only problem is chickens are actually omnivores by nature, since they eat bugs and stuff. So the most natural kind of chicken, roaming freely outside daily, actually can't be labeled vegetarian fed. Ain't that funny.
No Hormones Added: this label is supposed to draw you in...duh, duh, duh...but is actually useless since the FDA has now prohibited the use of hormones or steroids.
Organic: This means the chicken was never given antibiotics, growth hormones, contains no artificial additives or preservatives, and was fed with product grown organically (without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, "synthetic" is the key word, they can use environmental friendly fertilizers/pesticides). This term definitely implies a more humane treatment of animals but I typically think it is overrated unless you firmly believe animals should only eat food grown without pesticides. I'm not that fanatic....yet ;)
Next I looked up some major poultry brands to give me some clarity on what to buy at the store.
Tyson: Please don't buy this chicken people.
After searching all over their website, I found very little information on how they care for their animals. Instead, they talk about how many programs they have developed to ensure animal well-being, how they conduct facility audits regularly, how they train employees about animal well-being. Their whole "animal well-being" section is about certification, training, monitoring, and auditing, and mentions nothing about the animals! Well, I took the absence of this information to mean one thing, they don't really want you to know. I read through their mission statement which was all about growing the business by driving out inefficiency and said nothing about providing quality food. Tyson states that one of its core values is to "strive to honor God and be respectful of each other." What about respecting your food? Their aim is to be the nation's leader in poultry production, and I must say they have achieved that. You know why? Because they're the cheapest. Before hatching, chicks are vaccinated against disease right in the egg. Then upon hatching they are vaccinated again to prevent respiratory infections. They raise chickens in cage-free barns (but they don't talk about the conditions of the barns) that are genetically engineered to grow really big really fast (can't use hormones anymore, shoot). Then they are slaughtered and injected with color and preservatives to keep the meat fresh and looking good. FYI- they supply to KFC.
Foster Farms: This looks decent.
They looked a lot better. Their website had a myriad of information on animal well-being. They raise their chickens cage-free (like Tyson, except they took pride in the conditions of their barns). They allow their chickens to mature naturally without growth hormones or steroids. They don't add artificial color or flavor to the meat and no preservatives or synthetic ingredients. 100% Natural. They do exercise prudent use of antibiotics (which is expected since in such a massive group of chickens there is bound to be a sick one here and there). They state that "keeping our poultry comfortable and well treated is a priority for Foster Farms and ensures excellent health and development." Amen.
Perdue: Don't buy this.
The information I found on Perdue's website was very similar to Tyson. They raise their chickens cage-free, but made no mention of the barn conditions. They did say they have no need to use growth hormones because their birds are genetically engineered to have greater meat-to-bone ratio than any other chicken breed. Uhhh...if you watch Food Inc. they will show you how chickens grow so fast and so unaturally big that their skeleton cannot support their weight gain and they literally cannot walk and their bones break. Pretty much found very little information on how they raise chickens and a lot of boasting about the business history and how they were the first company to put a brand name on chicken. As far as poultry welfare goes they talked about how they have audits and do poultry welfare training and have vetrinarians on hand and stuff. Pretty much standard stuff you would expect as a minimum from any poultry company.
Sanderson: This one looks good.
This company seemed more like Foster Farms, very committed to raising healthy chickens naturally. They also raise cage-free chickens, looks like this is the most common method now. They don’t add anything to the chicken after processing, no additives, artificial ingredients or preservatives. They use antibiotics if required to keep chickens healthy (understandable in my opinion). They made a big point about producing 100% Natural chicken, with NO additives. "Sanderson chicken is always a single ingredient product: 100% natural chicken."
In Conclusion....
1) Free-range is best. Cage-free is second. And I wouldn't even consider chicken or eggs without this labeling because that means the chickens are crammed into tiny cages their whole lives without even enough room to spread their wings. Unfortunately this is usually the LEAST EXPENSIVE choice at the grocery store and what most people buy.
2) Please DON'T BUY Tyson or Perdue products. They are great in business, bad in animal welfare, which means your welfare if you eat their animals.
3) Just look at the labeling people. Don't be afraid to spend a little more on good healthy food. It'll all comes around in the long run. Remember you are what you eat!
The safest way to ensure you’re getting the most natural product possible? Just raise your own animals and grow your own food......(pause for effect)....okay okay, I know that's not reasonable for everyone, but that would be the best way to ensure your food's quality.
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