A recent report from the UK’s highly respected National Trust has confirmed what Animal Welfare Approved has been advocating for a long time: Feeding cattle on grass throughout their lifecycle is the most environmentally sustainable way to raise beef.

The new report – entitled What’s Your Beef – is an important contribution to the on-going debate about how to increase food security while reducing the environmental impacts of food production. Published by an organization responsible for the management of more than half a million acres of land across England, Wales and Northern Ireland on behalf of the nation, the messages in the report resonate with the arguments that AWA has presented for the wide-spread adoption of pasture-based livestock farming systems.

It pains me to say it but there are some very real connections between BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) and the recent “pink slime” fiasco that need to be aired.

I am not saying that “pink slime” (lean finely textured beef or LFTB for short) represents anything like the public health hazard that potentially BSE-infected meat could represent. Regulations are now in place to ensure that specified risk material is removed from every beef carcass so it does not enter the human food chain, and that the feeding of ground-up cattle remains back to cattle has been banned since 1997. However, it’s hard to ignore the fundamental similarities of the two incidents and, more importantly, the underlying circumstances and mindsets that led to the adoption in both cases of some highly questionable industry practices — practices that most people would have almost certainly have opposed had they been given the chance.

Dorothy Benedict raises Animal Welfare Approved wool and meat sheep in Western Massachusetts. In addition to the horses that she’s had since childhood, before raising sheep, she ran a goat dairy and creamery at Windy Hamlet Farm. Since 2005 she has been raising Icelandic sheep, a hardy breed known for its excellent wool. The breed is well-adapted to living on pasture and requires no supplemental grain. The colorful sheep can be black, brown, grey, white or spotted and lambs are born with short tails so tail docking, a welfare issue for sheep, is not necessary. Dorothy, a felter and weaver, uses the Icelandic wool from her sheep to felt, spin and dye.

Lawrence and Cynthia Blakemore have owned Blakemore Farm in upstate New York on the Vermont border between the Adirondack and Green Mountains since 1979. The couple began the farm with a couple of dairy calves for their son’s 4-H showing and the beginnings of a Hereford herd which in time grew to over 50 cows and calves. With the arrival of their first grandchild, they sold the herd to have time to visit their son and his family, who lived several hours away.

In the U.S., we pride ourselves on being the best of the best. And in this Olympic year we’re all hoping that we’ll come home with the Gold. However, there is one area where the U.S. leads which should deeply concern us all.

Figures initially presented by Dr. Danilo Lo Fo Wong of the World Health Organization reveal that the U.S. is leading the world in the overuse of antibiotics in livestock farming – and by a long way. We use more antibiotics per kilogram of meat produced than any other nation in the world – and we use 12 times as much as the country using the least, Norway. In doing so we are jeopardizing our future ability to treat killer diseases, all for the sake of so-called “cheap” animal protein and short-term industry profit. In this case, by coming in first, we may actually be in danger of losing it all.

Just last week Professor Lance Price from the TGen Centre for Microbiomics and Human Health in Arizona spoke in London, the site of this years’ Olympic Games, to highlight not American excellence, but American failings, saying that U.S. lawmakers were “significantly further behind Europe” after the European Union banned the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in 2006.

Eliza Lake and Bart Niswonger along with their two young children, Augustus and Charlotte, raise Animal Welfare Approved Highland beef cattle and Buff Orpington, Silver-Laced and Columbian Wyandotte, Partridge and Barred Rock laying hens at Kinne Brook Farm in Worthington, MA.

Whether it’s the regular tweets of the big-name food pundits or the countless anonymous contributors to online food discussions, an astonishing amount of advice is now dished out on what food we should buy and where we should buy it. While much of this guidance is sound and reasonable, some of it is wildly inaccurate or just downright unrealistic.

Take the latest mantra that cropped up in an online discussion that I was following: ‘Before you buy any food you should go and visit the farm, because that will answer all your questions.’ Buying direct from the farm or at the farmers’ market is something I wholeheartedly enjoy supporting. In doing so, my family hasn’t bought into the appalling practices of industrial agriculture; we’ve used our dollars to support local farms – and the food usually tastes great, too. But is it realistic to expect every conscientious consumer to have the time and ability to actually visit the farm first – let alone the expertise to assess what they see when they get there?

Last week, The Daily broke the news that the USDA planned to buy 7 million pounds of Boneless Lean Beef Trimmings (BLBT) – otherwise known as “pink slime” – for school lunches. Some reports state that 70% of prepackaged grind on retailers’ shelves contain it. The resulting backlash has had more effect than anyone expected. Following a public outcry and hundreds of thousands of signatories to petitions to try to get the product out of schools, Beef Products, Inc. (BPI), the world’s leading producer of BLBT, has launched a new counteroffensive website “pink slime is a myth.” So where does the truth lie?

Obviously, Boneless Lean Meat Trimmings sounds a lot more appetizing than “pink slime.” But whatever you call it, what is it? And how is it produced? The “pink slime is a myth” website says that BLBT is the meat and fat that is trimmed away when beef is cut. This is true as far as it goes. But BLBT isn’t quite the same as the bits of meat that you or your butcher might cut off the edge of a steak or other piece of meat. BLBT is the fatty trimmings that even BPI agrees couldn’t be separated with the knife. In the past, these trimmings were used for pet food or converted into oil rather than being served as hamburgers to people.

Tonya and Edward Zitvogel, II and their children Casey, Allie and Jacob raise Animal Welfare Approved laying hens at Zitvogel Farms in Bridgeville, DE. Before becoming a full time farmer Edward was a nutrient management specialist for the University of Maryland and has been a field scout for row crops and vegetables as well. Zitvogel Farms, the farm where Edward was born and raised, is a 200 acre farm that specializes in vegetables and hay. They grow tomatoes in a 24′x96′ high tunnel and grow almost 2000′ row feet of Dr. Martin Pole Limas as well as an acre of sweet potatoes. The Zitvogels raise several breeds of AWA laying hens including Barred Rocks, Partridge Rocks, Speckled Sussex, Buff Orpington, Delaware, and Welsummers.

Hugh Miller Sr. and Jr. are third and fourth generation farmers in Pink Hill, North Carolina. Hugh Sr. began raising pigs at the age of nine and Hugh Jr. began raising livestock when he was 12. Now father and son work together on the family farm, where they grow row crops and raise Animal Welfare Approved pastured pork.