Free Range Pork is Safer, Right?

The New York Times carried quite an interesting op-ed piece from James McWilliams this weekend disputing the safety of pork from free-range pigs. The article is interesting and short, so I won't analyze it in detail here, but I will summarize a few of his more interesting points:

• A study was done last year to test the levels of dangerous pathogens in more than 600 anti-biotic free, free-range pigs. Levels of pathogens causing toxoplasmosis and salmonella were found to be substantially higher than in confined pigs, and 2 pigs were found to have the dangerous parasite trichina, which has been eradicated from confined pigs.
• Free-range pigs can come into contact with dangerous contaminants from which confined pigs are protected, specifically rats, cats and contaminated soil.
• Free-range does not mean wild. It is somewhere halfway between confined and wild. Since animal husbandry began, humans have been searching for ways to control meat production such that it is safe and consistent - this is not a new practice. Much of the process followed in industrial pork production is to protect against exactly the diseases identified in the study.
• While free-range may make the pork taste better, and make us feel better because the pigs are supposedly leading a more natural lifestyle, ultimately it is another form of meat production, one which disregards the dangers against which the confinement of pigs is trying to protect and which isn't really close at all to pigs natural wild state.

I found this article interesting because it calls into question my assumption that free range is always the best choice for meat. I find especially intriguing the idea that any form of meat production, as opposed to hunting meat, is industrial, no matter how PC it seems. Here are a few of the questions I was left with:

• What exactly does free-range mean for the pigs in the cited study? Like beef, I'd guess there are vastly differing environments for how free-range pigs are raised and fed. Is there a concept of pastured vs. free-range for pigs?
• When compared with free-range pigs, what issues surround confined pork production? You may remember the recent Irish pork recall due to the contamination of a small amount of pig feed. (By the way, I hope I'm never forced to eat anything called "feed." I like my food to have names. Just a thought.)
• Is any kind of pork consumption, short of meat from hunted pigs, safe to eat? Just why are there so many religious and social taboos against eating pork as opposed to other meats? Could this be an evolutionary safety mechanism?

These are interesting questions that I'd like to begin exploring. I've been steering clear of pork for a while, and until I better inform myself, I will probably continue to do so.

A few last points:

The La Vida Locavore blog carried an interesting response to this piece that claims the study referenced was funded by the National Pork Board (although I can't figure out how this was determined). The article and comments show that once again, this is a complex subject that requires detailed research on the part of any consumer striving for a complete understanding of what he or she is eating.

James McWilliams has a book coming out soon entitled Just Food: How Locavores Are Endangering the Future of Food and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly. I can't wait, but I really hope this doesn't mean that I have to reconsider some of my opinions ;)

Another Easy Dinner - Pastured Beef Chili with Red Beans and Rice

Last time I posted about how I couldn't think of anything to make for dinner but pulled through at the last minute with a great, improvised macaroni and cheese. So today was the same intro as last time, bored cooking, with nothing in season in February, restricted by my desire to eat seasonally and locally, I couldn't think of anything to make for dinner. So what are the chances ... I hit a home run again.

I definitely don't want to be repetitive, but as it is so rare for me to make up a recipe, and even rarer for it to taste good, AND thinking of easy mid-winter meals is so hard, I thought I'd share again.

We'd been eating almost no meat for the last few weeks, and we still have quite a bit in the freezer from Sun Prairie Beef, so I thought I should do something with ground beef. One of the few vegetables I still have left from the Abbondanza fall CSA is dried beans. I guess that counts as a serving of vegetables. What was starting to come together in my head was a rather meager chili of ground beef, red beans, onions and canned tomatoes.

I started browsing cookbooks looking for a recipe using these ingredients. It seemed like a simple, classic combination, but everything I came across was more involved than what I wanted and used beef stew meat rather than ground beef. I decided to just make it up as I went along.

I cut the onions two ways, I wanted a base of diced onions, but I also wanted some larger pieces that stood out in the final chili, at least I'd feel like I was eating a vegetable. I threw together a few spices, primarily cumin seeds, and some fresh herbs I had in the fridge, leftover from something else. I didn't add much chili because I am feeding a baby, feel free to add more.

One more note, I'm not a huge fan of beans, but the heirloom beans from my CSA are out of this world. I didn't realize beans could taste that good. I'm not familiar with this kind - Abbondanza calls them Mexican red. They're incredibly smooth and creamy. If you live in this area or can find dried, local beans in your area, I'd seriously recommend seeking them out. They're worth the extra effort.

By the way, this isn't a soupy chili, in fact it looks a little dry in the picture, but it was nice and moist. Add some of the bean cooking liquid if it seems dry.

Finally, I happened to have some wilted cilantro (coriander for my two Irish readers) and homemade yogurt to garnish. An elaborate feast in 45 minutes (not counting the bean soaking time).

Easy Beef Chili with Read Beans and Brown Rice (serves 6)

• 1.5 c dried red beans
• 1 ham hock or bone from pork shoulder (optional, I had this leftover waiting for a rainy day)
• 1.5 c. brown rice
  
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp. coriander seeds
• 1/4 tsp. fennel seeds
  
• 1/2 dried ancho chili
• 1 dried red chili, other variety depending on heat level preferred
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 2 medium onions, 1 diced, 1 cut into 1/2 in. wedges
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb. ground beef, ideally 100% grass fed
• 1 tsp. fresh thyme
• 1 tsp. fresh oregano
• 1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes
• 1 c. chicken stock or water
• salt and pepper to taste
• cheddar cheese, grated
  
• handful fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
  
• plain, whole milk yogurt
  

Rinse and soak the beans in at least 2 inches of cold water. I only soaked them for six hours, but my beans are from this year. If they're older than that, you will probably need to soak them overnight.

Put the beans and the bone in a heavy pot covered with at least 2 inches of fresh water. Bring to a boil, then lower to a gentle simmer. Cook until tender, about 45-60 minutes, then set aside.

Heat 3 1/4 c. water and a heaping 1/4 tsp. salt in a small saucepan. Once boiling rapidly, add the rice, bring back to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast the cumin, coriander and fennel seeds in a pan on medium low heat until darkened and nutty smelling, about 3 minutes. Grind in a mortar and pestle, along with the chilies.

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet on medium low heat. Add all of the onions and the garlic to the pan and cook gently until soft and starting to color. Add the beef, cooking and breaking up with a spoon until browned. Add the ground spices, chilies, and herbs and cook for a minute, then add the tomatoes and stock. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Use a spoon to break up the tomatoes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

From here, cook as long as you have time. I didn't feel like waiting, so I cooked it for about 20 minutes. Before then, the flavors didn't taste very blended. I suspect that it will taste better if you cook it a little longer.

Drain the beans and stir into the chili, adding a little of the bean cooking liquid if it seems dry. Remove from the heat. Check the seasonings one final time. Serve the chili over the rice and garnish with cilantro, cheddar cheese and yogurt.

Eating Beef Ethically

I've struggled for years with the decision of whether or not to eat meat. I first started questioning this when I lived in England about 15 years ago, which was when the BSE scandal broke in the news. I had no idea what cows were fed or what they were supposed to eat or what offal was. I decided, without much information, that maybe it was a good idea to eat less meat in general and eat no red meat.

Since then I really haven't eaten much meat, but I also have never quite managed to give it up. I don't think there is anything ethically wrong with eating meat, after all, we've evolved to eat it at least once in a while. But I wasn't comfortable with the idea of animals crammed into small cages or pens, living crappy lives and then being killed.

As the years went by, I couldn't come to a decision I could live with, so it just seemed easier to eat less and less meat.

Then I read Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma. This book follows the creation of four meals from their source to their ultimate destination, his dinner plate.

The first meal chronicled is a McDonald's Big Mac, Soda and Fries, which obviously contains cheap beef, butchered from cows raised in feedlots. The sad story of these cows is worse than I could have imagined.

There is the obvious fact that they are crammed into tiny lots, which is far different from the grazing, roaming lifestyle for which they have evolved.

Then there is the environmental impact. A tremendous amount of chemicals and fossil fuels are used in creating their feed; not a very good ROI for the amount of beef produced. And on the other end is their waste. There is so much of it in such a small space and it contains so many contaminants that it can't be used as fertilizer; it seems that it becomes almost like toxic waste.

You could talk yourself out of caring about those two things, I suppose, because they don't have a direct impact on you. But what they eat... now that does, because ultimately it goes into my body. So what do they eat? Well, it's not grass, that's for sure

1. Type two corn - Why? "Cows fed corn, a compact source of caloric energy, get fat quickly .. Yet this corn-fed meat is demonstrably less healthy for us, since it contains more saturated fat and less omega-3 fatty acids than the meat of animals fed grass."¹


2. Antibiotics Rumensin and Tylosin - for two reasons. First, the close quarters in which the cows live causes higher rates of disease. Second, corn raises the acid level in a cows stomach, causing a painful disease called acidosis.


3. Liquid vitamins (because the corn has no nutrients) and synthetic estrogen (to grow faster)


4. Alfalfa hay and silage (for roughage)


5. Liquefied fat - Anything from Beef tallow, feather meal and chicken litter, to chicken, fish and pig meal. Obviously cattle have evolved to be herbivores rather than carnivores, so this is a strange distortion of the food chain. BSE is a good example of what can happen when rendered animals are fed to each other.


6. Protein supplement - molasses and urea. "Urea is a form of synthetic nitrogen made from natural gas, similar to fertilizer."¹ Yum!

Suffice it to say, I was pretty grossed out after reading this book. I definitely do not want that stuff going into my body. I vowed from that time to never eat feedlot beef again, which so far I've stuck to for about a year.

But after reading this book, I was convinced that I could feel comfortable eating beef from cattle that are grow completely open range and fed nothing but grass. In Colorado this actually isn't so hard. There is a growing number of ranches and farms that sell 100% grass fed beef, commonly referred to as pastured beef. Note that grass fed beef is not the same as 100% grass fed beef, as even feedlot cattle live free range for the first few months of their life.

We've been ordering beef from a ranch out in eastern Colorado, Sun Prairie Beef. They deliver to the Denver area twice a year, at about seven designated pick-up sites. We get their smallest quantity: a 25 pound variety pack for $175. Because we only eat beef about once a week, this lasts us for six months until the next delivery.

Many people complain that pastured beef is dry and tough because it has much lower fat content. I'll say that since I haven't been eating beef prior to now, I don't have any basis for comparison, but we definitely like what we've been cooking. We do tend to only cook everything to medium rare - a common recommendation for pastured beef. I just don't worry about things like E-Coli because I don't see how a cow out on the range could pick it up.

There is a great website with lots of information about eating grass fed beef and other sustainable, all natural foods. It includes lists of sources by state for all over the US.

¹ Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma: a natural history of four meals (New York: Penguin Group, 2006).