MRJ said:
Do any of you who are touting the "healthy alternative to commercially produced, factory farmed meat and poultry products" have results of testing of those "healthy alternative" products showing or proving that the food is any more "healthy" than meat from commercially raised meat or poultry?
Unless and until tests show there is a verifiable difference in the nutrient and residue content, why should anyone be able to claim such is the case?
It is fine if people choose to buy those products simply on the basis that they do not want to eat meat grown in the conventional manner and are willing to pay more to do so.
It is quite something else to lead people to believe that there are significant health benefits to be gained, or that their is a significant difference between the two products, UNLESS THERE IS PROOF via unbiased test results, IMO.
MRJ
How would what these people are doing by touting the benifits of their program any different than a ranch group touting how much they have improved the life and money paid to ranchers?
"[JB, where have you heard or read the "ranch group" to whom you refer state that they "have improved the lives of ranchers"? Give us a break! Now, the fact that due to beef checkoff programs improving beef demand, the amount of money going into cattle producer pockets has increased is measureable. You may choose not to believe that fact, but you so choosing does nothing to make it untrue. MRJ]"
MRJ, could you please post such figures as to improved sales and prices. I will take them to my banker and get a big loan to buy cows and I am sure he will make it after seeing your "proof". And who said I was talking about "your" orginization?
It's all about like selling mineral. They claim that it will help your cattle, but I've never seen any hard and fast proof.
If the consumer wants to buy something that they think is more healthful, than sell it to them. Instead of putting down someone elses practices, maybe we should look at some of our own.
"[Aren't there laws against misleading consumers with false information? I'm not putting down their practices, I simply want them to obey the law. Do the research and prove and verify their claims, or they can't make them, is all I ask. MRJ]"
If there are laws in place, they don't seem to stop very many. You say they can't prove it, I say, you prove they are wrong. If I sell someone a beef that was killed on grass and butchered locally and we all get to watch the process and we all know that the critter had nothing but the finest grass and forages to eat since it was born, wouldn't you think it might be better than some critter that was sold as a calf and again as a yearling and stood in mud in a lot getting all kinds of precautionary shots so it wouldn't get sick, then was hauled to a packing plant 30 to 80 miles away with 50 more just like it and poked and prodded onto the kill floor and then butchered? Are you familiar with the Argentina method of forage fattening where the beef is so tender that you can cut it with a fork?
I'm sure every part of the proccess has competent people who are doing a good job, but when you are being paid to do a job for someone else, SOMETIMES people tend to take a smaller intrest in how good of a job is done as someone who does fewer head at a time and may lose their business if they don't do a good job. The product MIGHT be better when it's done one at a time than when it's done as an assembly line proccess. When I sell someone a beef, they can come to me and tell me it's good or not and they will. If you buy a bad cut of beef in the store, who is to blame? Accountability.
As for benificial claims, seems like there are lots of business's who make all kinds of claims without any proof. One would have to prove the claims were false in order to stop them.
I've bought beef in grocery stores before and often wondered how we ever sell any, if it tastes like that. Sure doesn't taste like the beef we raise and butcher for home use.
[We often hear that sad tale, so I have purchased the lowest priced beef I can find in Rapid City and Pierre. When I cook it properly for the type of cut and quality, we have always had a good meal of it. MRJ]
Any grocery store beef we have bought has been cooked properly and it still didn't have the tenderness and taste of our home grown beef. Didn't matter what cut it was. I have had steak that came from a grocery store in Iowa that was cut at the store and it was excellent. It also was fat. I have never eaten any "lean" beef that was very good. We are eating on a 2 year old bull who was killed before I could fatten him. We had him made into hamburger. The meat tastes good, but it isn't as good as the hamburger off from a fat critter. This bull had a bad attitude and so couldn't be penned and fattened. I couldn't wait for him to get fat on grass.
I sold some beef this year and made a gaurentee that if they didn't like it, I would take it back. Now if I can just find some more like it to sell the others who have heard about it and want some. :lol: