What is Organic vs All Natural, no added hormone or steroids????!
What is Organic vs All Natural, no added hormone or steroids????
I went to the grocery store today and bought a whole chicken. I noticed on all the chickens, the following was printed. All natural, no added hormone and steroids. Federal regualtion prohibits addition of hormone and steroids.
Does that mean that all chicken cannot have any hormone or steroids?
No added hormones, does that mean that hormones/steroids are not added, however it could still be present?
How about antibiotics, there is no mention, so therefore it must be present?
So what does it mean that a chicken is all organic?
Does the no hormone/steriod regulation apply to all meats?
How about "All natural", does that mean some chickens are "not all natural"?
Also rBST allowed only on milk cows only or all cows?
Answers:
Hey, I applaud you for questioning this, as these terms are not regulated and mean almost nothing.
All Natural = not regulated, means nothing.
No added steroids/hormones = Nothing added AFTER processing the carcass. The animal, unless pure organically fed, still consumed hormones and steroids (like in the case of 90% of farms).
Organic = No pesticides or hormones, a little bit lenient.
As for as rBGH, it's in cows' milk. Unfortunately, the companies that "produce" these animal products are very rich and have made it such that their frankenfoods do not have to be labeled. Organic cows' milk will still have the cows' natural hormones that would be passed on to their young to help them grow, had the human not taken the milk, but it should not have the rBGH, if you want to look into that. A safe bet is almond or hempnut milk! :)
Food labeled Organic is held to much stricter standards, no hormones, steroids, antibiotics or any other chemical in either the animal or its food. The label All Natural is not federally regulated so it can mean absolutely nothing. If the meat/dairy you buy is not : labeled organic or purchased directly from a small farm, you can bet that there are vast amounts of chemicals, additives, hormones, steroids etc in the item.
There is no hormone/steroid regulation adhered to by factory farms.
rBST can be in all cows, although it is used to make dairy cows produce vast quantities of milk. It causes their udders to enlarge and sometimes fill with pus (so gross) which is why the milk MUST be pasteurized.
Your best bet is to buy your meat/dairy local and/or organic. The animals have vastly better lives and you ingest a far superior food. We are what we eat, after all. All those unnatural ingredients may lead to cancer and diseases for us down the line.
Check out this website to find local sources of meat/dairy
www.foodroutes.org and check out this book if you want to know more:
The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved by Sandor Ellix Katz
or
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Micheal Pollan