Antibiotics and hormones
At Laura's Lean Beef Company, we raise our cattle without the use of antibiotics. If any of our cattle require antibiotics for the treatment of illness, the cattle are separated from the herd, treated, and removed from our program. We maintain this practice for two reasons:
- We believe that Nature never intended the regular use of antibiotics in livestock, especially when used as an artificial means to speed growth; and
- We recognize the significant risks associated with the overuse of antibiotics, and we believe that one place to reduce that use is on the farm.
Background
The development of antibiotics in the treatment of disease was one of the major medical advances of the 20th century. Antibiotics are an effective way to treat bacterial infection, both in humans and in animals. However, antibiotics can lose their effectiveness, particularly with repeated use. Bacteria that are resistant to the antibiotic are able to survive and multiply, rendering the antibiotic useless in fighting the infection. The physician (or veterinarian, in treating animals) often then prescribes a different antibiotic to treat the infection.
But even with advances in modern medicine, we still have a limited cache of antibiotics to choose from. We cannot afford the overuse -- and abuse -- of antibiotics that renders these important medicines useless. That's why, every cold and flu season, public health officials remind us that antibiotics are only effective for bacterial infections, not viruses. Using antibiotics for viruses is not only ineffective, but can promote the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, limiting our ability to fight future infections.
Yet while on one hand scientists have been warning of the risks related to the overuse of antibiotics, on the other hand there have been dramatic increases in the use of antibiotics in farming in recent decades. About 50 years ago, it was discovered that adding low levels of antibiotics to feed would help to speed growth of livestock while enabling animals to gain more weight on less feed. This discovery occurred at a time when agriculture was growing larger in scale, moving away from small-scale farms. Increasingly, an industrial model of farming demanded that more animals be raised in less space. The overcrowding meant that when one animal got sick, infection spread quickly. Often the solution was that all animals would be treated with antibiotics, whether they show sign of illness or not.
While these practices in the short term may reduce the cost of meat, they raise concerns about long-term effects on human health.
At Laura's Lean Beef, we have found that when livestock are raised on family farms, in uncrowded conditions, using good animal husbandry techniques, the need for antibiotics decreases significantly as the incidence of disease decreases. For more information on antibiotics, click here.
"No Growth Hormones Added"
We sometimes get questions from customers who wonder why we say on our label, "No growth hormones added." Does that mean we don't add hormones to the meat in processing?
Well, no, we don't, but neither does any other meat company. What it really means is that we do not administer any growth steroids, hormones or stimulants while raising our cattle.
But why the word "added"? The reason is that cattle (like humans) have naturally occurring growth hormones, and the USDA determined several years ago that it would be more precise to say "No growth hormones added" rather than just "No growth hormones."
For more on hormones, click here.
Raised From Birth
Look at our label, and you'll see this statement: "Cattle raised without antibiotics. No growth hormones added." Not every beef company can put that on their label -- only companies that participate in an affidavit-verified program that was designed and is monitored by the USDA. As an additional quality control measure, we test our cattle feed for antibiotics and pesticides.
All of our steaks and roasts carry this label, and much of our ground beef and ground round carries this label as well. It means that this beef comes from cattle that have been raised from birth without the use of antibiotics or growth hormones.
Affidavit Verified for 20 Months
In some parts of the country, you'll see this on our ground beef and ground round label: "Affidavit verified for at least 20 months before finishing." What does this mean?
To make our ground beef and ground round as lean as they are (92% lean and 96% lean, respectively) we use the leanest beef available, some of which is bull meat. Many of our farmers purchase their bulls from "seed stock producers" - farmers who raise bulls for breeding. In some cases we do not have affidavits from the seed stock producer that verifies these bulls have not received antibiotics or growth hormones from birth. In these cases, our affidavits go back at least 20 months (nearly two years) from the time that our farmers purchased the bulls from the seed stock producer.
The likelihood is very low that these bulls have received antibiotics and growth hormones prior to that 20 months. Even under conventional cattle raising practices, bulls are not given growth hormones, because they are naturally large, and a seed stock producer wouldn't want growth hormones to interfere with the bull's breeding ability. And low-dose antibiotics would not be fed to bulls, because bulls are not raised in crowded feedlot conditions. Generally, bulls are out with the herd grazing on pasture.
The statement "Affidavit verified for at least 20 months before finishing" is a USDA-approved statement. It means we have legal affidavits verifying the fact that antibiotics and growth hormones have not been administered for at least 20 months.
So while we expect that these bulls have never received antibiotics or growth hormones, the affidavit requirements of our program are stringent. If we have affidavits for 20 months but not to birth, that is reflected on the label.
Most of the cattle in our program have affidavits going back to birth, so in many areas of the country you'll never see this 20-month label. We expect that in the future all our ground beef and ground round will have affidavits going back to birth.
