Do you think Grain-Finished meats are a problem?

[Caveman]

I just visited the only butcher in town and asked him about their meats and if they were grass-fed or not. I was told all of their beef was grass-fed but grain-finished. Besides that, he told me about the quality of everything they sell, which seems to be legitimate. I purchased some fatty cuts of meat for a pretty great price and lots of pork belly as well (to try it out, as I need more fat and have been accustomed to eating only ground beef for over a month and I need to go for some different things here).

What do you think about grain-finished meat? I'm at least glad the cows were raised on grass. I'll see how I react to this..

[a87.pal]

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/monday-musings-new-grass-fed-study/

[TylerDurden]

 I would avoid grain-finished meat. True, it's less worse than fully grainfed meats, but it is not too healthy. Here's a relevant link mentioning what happens to the meat when the animal is placed in a grainfeeding feedlot at the end of its life:-

http://www.eatwild.com/healthbenefits.htm

[Iguana]

And most of all, I would definitely avoid commercial pork since pigs are the most horrendously fed livestock.

[CHK91]

And most of all, I would definitely avoid commercial pork since pigs are the most horrendously fed livestock.

I have a question. Is it safe to eat raw wild boar?  Have you tried it, and if so how does it taste?

[Iguana]

Yes, it's safe but only if the wild boar couldn't access to corn fields and garbage dumps. Otherwise the most concerning is that there could be a risk of trichinosis, according to what I've been told.

That's all wild boar, except a lamb leg left in the upper row of my fridge.

Not only I have tried it but I've eaten a lot of it, even tonight and almost everyday since I got this 3/4 of one on December 30. Just finished the liver yesterday. I had several others before. It's one of the best tasting meat, perhaps the best.

[CHK91]

So as long as it had no contact with human civilization it should be okay, right? I know that hepatitis is a problem in conventionally raised pork. Is there any reason to believe wild ones can get such a disease? I'm still sort of debating with myself on whether or not I should eat scavengers. As long as boars are not eating meat scraps there isn't much worry for parasites. However, if they are truly wild, there is no guarantee.

[Iguana]

So as long as it had no contact with human civilization it should be okay, right?

Yes, nutritional contact. No problem if the animal crossed a road once in a way!

However, if they are truly wild, there is no guarantee.

On the contrary I think that's the best guarantee and it's the same for all animals. I've never been scared to eat raw meat from any wild animal living away from civilization. 

[TylerDurden]

Iguana's right. he and I and many other RVAFers have eaten lots of raw wild game over the years without any problems, so it's a non-issue. Raw wild game is nutritionally superior to any organic 100 oercent grassfed meats by far, and usually cheaper, ironically.

As for wild game coming into contact with civilisation, I don't think it matters if the contact is rare. I would draw the line at eating urban foxes given that their main food-intake comes from rubbish-bins, but anything from the open country is fine for me.

[dsohei]

well, i wouldn't eat a grain-fed human unless i absolutely had to.

[kurite]

@Iguana
That wild boar meat looks like its a red meat but isnt pork kinda white?

[CHK91]

@Iguana
That wild boar meat looks like its a red meat but isnt pork kinda white?

Pure "grass-fed" or wild pork is red because of its diet. Grainfed pork is usually pale.

[miles]

SAs long as boars are not eating meat scraps there isn't much worry for parasites.

wtf?... wtf? How do you think the animal which became the meat scraps got the parasites eh? *facepalm*

And yeah, wild boar meat is red. Wild bird meat is also red.

I would draw the line at eating urban foxes given that their main food-intake comes from rubbish-bins, but anything from the open country is fine for me.

Afaik that's the reason why pigs are not halal or kosher, because they used to live off of garbage in the streets.

[TylerDurden]

Afaik that's the reason why pigs are not halal or kosher, because they used to live off of garbage in the streets.

  There's a lot of rubbish urban myths about pigs. The 2 obvious ones are that they are dirty and that they are stupid. Actually, pigs are one of the most intelligent of animals
http://www.humanecarolina.org/intelligenceofpigs.html

and are one of the cleanest
http://www.gan.ca/animals/pigs.en.html . It's only because some humans preferred to shut them up in tiny stockades and fed on garbage that they got a bad rep.

Here's an alternative theory re pigs and kosher/halal notions:-

"n 1966, British anthropologist Mary Douglas published the influential study Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. In Purity and Danger, Douglas first proposed that the kosher laws were not, as many believed, either primitive health regulations or randomly chosen as tests of Jews' commitment to God. Instead, Douglas argued that the laws were about keeping symbolic boundaries. Prohibited foods were those that did not seem to fall neatly into any category. Her theory was that pigs were declared unclean in Leviticus because pigs' place in the natural order was ambiguous since they shared the cloven hoof of the ungulates, but did not chew cud.[citation needed]"

taken from:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unclean_animals

[Hannibal]

There's a lot of rubbish urban myths about pigs. The 2 obvious ones are that they are dirty and that they are stupid. Actually, pigs are one of the most intelligent of animals

That's true.
That's a good book about this - http://tvivf.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/wholehog.jpg?w=203&h=300

[turkish]

In light of abouve comments, do you guys think it would safe to eat raw pork from slankers?

If yes then which cut should i start with (this will be a first)

[TylerDurden]

In light of abouve comments, do you guys think it would safe to eat raw pork from slankers?

If yes then which cut should i start with (this will be a first)

Well, slanker's offers only grassfed meats, afaik, so their raw pork should be fine.

[turkish]

Well, slanker's offers only grassfed meats, afaik, so their raw pork should be fine.

do you recommend any specific cuts from a pig - to a beginner like me.

[TylerDurden]

do you recommend any specific cuts from a pig - to a beginner like me.

No, cuts of meat are irrelevant as they are pretty much all the same. I therefore always choose the cheapest cuts from beef or anything else(stewing-steak, minced-meat(if absolutely fresh)). Also raw organ-meats are much cheaper than raw muscle-meats, not to mention higher in nutrients,  so are well worth adding in.

[achillezzz]

Guys what do you think of Grass Finished Meats but all rest of the time been fed grains? btw whats the definition of that ?

This is what they have in middle east(israel) I found a farm where they pasture raise their cows but because of the climate there they have grass only 2 or 2.5 months in a year so I emailed them and asked them "What do you feed your cows are they grassfed?"

They emailed me back and told me they will have grassfed beef in May (So it means Its Grass Finished no?)

What do you think of that?

[sabertooth]

I ordered some pork testicles from slankers and ate them around the time my last baby was conceived. They were kind of bitter , and I found them to be more potent than other types I have eatten.(seem more Biologically active, perhaps pork testosterone is closer to that of humans than bovine ?}

 I have just got an order from there last week and I absolutely love the lamb tongue, I also stocked up on spleen, its real cheap and full of blood.

I have eatten some grain finshed beef from WF they told me it was grass fed and finished on grain for 14 days. It was fairly good, but for some reason I noticed that if I ate the fat trimmings for more than a day or so straight I would lose my apatite for it.

[Neone]

Grain finished meat is pretty gross compared to wild, but sometimes thats all you can get your hands on, and its not going to kill you to eat it, but its not that great.. Since your food is supposed to be making you healthy, since your food isnt healthy, its not going to work right. I found the fat more gross than the meat on grain finished animals.  The main reason that i dont like store bought meat is that it always smells like hand sanitizer to me and that really puts me off my food haha.

But right now im getting beef from my local butcher who is butchering their own cows that they're only feeding hay and barley as the grain to.. It is a huge difference over something that is fed corn and/or soy as well.  This stuff is pretty good and almost up there with a grassfed meat in my opinion. So yes, i think what something eats is important and does make a difference, so you just get the best that you can, sometimes its not grassfed.

[SteakNchop]

In my opinion, while grass fed is certainly the best, grain fed is fine sometimes. What I think really matters is that the animals aren't fed antobiotics.

[Bronwen]

Yes, the antibiotic / growth hormone side really frightens me as far as eating meat goes. I am fairly new to eating raw meat, having come from a LONG background (20 yrs) of vegetarian/vegan/811-almost-fruitarian background (and 30bananasaday forum!). The almost-fruitarian-no-overt-fats caused me the biggest problems ito of cravings and constant 'failure' ito going back to cooked veg and minimal rice. Anyway, after having cravings for meat for the last few months of last year, decided to listen to my body - like heaven! Only been eating raw meat for 20 days, a little every second day for now.
But that antibiotic issue is the biggest worry ito where to buy meat if I can't get game. And what about organs like liver? surely these substances would be concentrated in the liver? At the moment I have only been eating lamb and beef muscle meat from Woolworths (equivalnet to M&S in the UK). They have a small (expensive!) section in the meat dept which offers grassfed lamb and beef, fed no 'routine' antibiotics or hormones. Makes me feel a bit more secure!! The lamb all seems to fall into that category, so maybe I'll venture out to some liver or kidneys this week - at least it is cheaper.

Still would like to connect with some South Africans to find out where they get their meat - I feel way out of my depth having been 'out of the meat market' for more than 20 years!

[Z]

Hey guys, I found a supplier for beef suet and other good organs but where I am it is so hot they have to set out supplemental feed for the animals. The woman I talked to says that there are round hay bales out and the supplemental feed is optional(just set out for the cows which come and eat some at the end of the day). The supplement blend makes up around 30% of their diet and is a mix of alfalfa, peanuts, and corn(<25% of the feed). So corn ends up around less than 10%(probably more like 5-7%) of their diet. She also says no antibiotics/hormones(is a cow needs antibiotics it's sold to someone else, no cow ever comes back to the pasture with antibiotics) and that the cows are never "finished," that they spend their whole life on the pasture. The cows have at least 80 acres of pasture to roam(6500 total acres) so I'm guessing they'll eat as much grain as they can. And since they never enter a feed lot and have such nice area to roam(plus vit D) they've gotta be pretty happy so no stress hormones and no shunting poorly digested food/toxic byproducts into the fat(my guess).

Is it worth it, or should I find something else? I've been eating Whole Foods grass fed beef(asking for the fat trimmings), which says 100% grass fed but I can't find anything that says that means they aren't supplemented with anything.