No E. Coli or Mad Cow Disease in Grass-Fed Beef

Forage-Fed Beef Abundant in Nutrients and Conjugated Linoleic Acid
© Brad Dunevitz

May 16, 2009

Studies show that grass-fed cattle have dramatically fewer E. coli - a large and diverse group of bacteria - in their intestines than their grain-fed counterparts.

About 50-plus years ago, we started fattening cattle on grain instead of grass.However, grain-fed cattle develop abnormally high stomach acidity, which allows for the development of acid-resistant E. coli. If E. coli gets into a human digestive system, it can wreak havoc on it.

Conversely, grass-fed cattle have a healthy stomach acidity, which means that even if by rare chance you are exposed to E. coli, their stomach’s natural acidity will kill the bacteria. Furthermore, since grass-fed cattle are kept apart from any grain-fed cattle at harvest time, there is no chance that they will be contaminated once they leave the pasture.

Grass-fed beef also is safe from Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as Mad Cow Disease (MCD). For instance, Missouri-based U.S. Wellness Beef, for instance, guarantees it because:

Their animals never have access to contaminated animal byproduct feed, since they are grass-fed throughout their lives. Also, because the United States banned animal byproducts in feed in 1997, most supermarket meat is unlikely to be contaminated.
They raise their animals from the day they are born, ensuring that the cattle are never exposed to any animal contaminants during their lifetimes. Plus, their animals are isolated during the entire harvest and fabrication process.
They make their hamburger meat from whole muscles, which are entirely safe. In addition, their processor does not use machinery that scrapes every last piece of meat from the spinal area, a practice used only in industrial meat processing plants that harvest thousands of animals every day. Additionally, for the last several years, U.S. Wellness Meats has employed a procedure that removes the spinal fluid sack from the backbone immediately after harvest, which removes all risk before the cattle are processed.

Grass-Fed Rich in Nutrients and Conjugated Linoleic Acid
All beef is a great source of iron, B vitamins, and zinc — three nutrients many Americans might be insufficient in.

It’s also a source of Vitamin A, which is essential to proper nutrition, a key to healthy vision and bone growth, and an crucial antioxidant. Our most common source of Vitamin A is the beta-carotene that occurs naturally in orange and yellow fruits and vegetables and is converted into Vitamin A by our bodies. Cattle that are raised on grass consume significantly larger amounts of beta-carotene than do those raised on grain.


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