Here, 9 labels that are actually meaningful and independently verified, 9 that aren’t worth your attention, and one that falls somewhere in the middle. 9 Labels You Should Look For: MORE: 6 New Ways To Eat Dinner Leftovers For Breakfast 9 Labels You Can IgnoreAmerican Humane Association This label requires producers to provide basic animal welfare, but it’s lacking in a few key areas (namely, it doesn’t require outdoor access, and entire herds can get antibiotic treatment even if just one animal is sick). If you’re out to make the most ethical meat purchase, you can do better than this label. Seek out Animal Welfare Approved, GAP Step 4 or 5, or Certified Humane instead. Free Range The USDA hasn’t defined the term “free range” as it applies to beef cattle, so this doesn’t really mean anything when you see it on your steak. Instead, pick a label that ensures animals have free pasture access and can move around freely such as Animal Welfare Approved, American Grassfed Assocation, Demeter Biodynamic, or Food Alliance Grassfed. Natural The USDA defines a “natural” product as having “no artificial ingredient or added color” and being “only minimally processed.” This applies to basically all fresh beef, regardless of how it was produced and how the animals were treated. So this label doesn’t mean squat. In fact, surveys show that the word “natural” on packaging regularly misleads people into thinking a product is healthier than it is. Humanely Raised This phrase isn’t regulated by the USDA or any third party organization—so consider it marketing fluff. Choose products with trustworthy animal welfare labels like Animal Welfare Approved or Certified Humane instead. No Additives There are no USDA guidelines regulating this label claim, so it might mean something different when used by different producers. Plus, fresh beef shouldn’t have any additives in the first place, so it’s likely just being used to lure you from one brand to another. No Antibiotics Administered/Raised Without Antibiotics If a manufacturer wants to use this claim on their packaging, they have to submit solid documentation to the USDA proving that no antibiotics were given over the course of the animals’ lifetimes. But Consumer Reports rates this label only as somewhat meaningful, since there’s no independent verification of the claims. Stick with USDA Organic, Certified Naturally Grown, Demeter Biodynamic, or any of the animal welfare labels that don’t allow unnecessary antibiotic use. (Side note: Don’t go looking for “antibiotic-free” meat—the USDA doesn’t allow that phrase on labels.) No Growth Hormones Just like “no antibiotics administered,” this claim is not independently verified. You’re better off picking USDA Organic, Certified Naturally Grown, Demeter Biodynamic, or any of the animal welfare labels that ban hormone use. Pastured/Pasture-Raised This one is not USDA-regulated, so don’t put much stock in it. To make sure you’re getting animals that did have ample pasture access, choose Animal Welfare Approved, American Grassfed Assocation, Demeter Biodynamic, Food Alliance Grassfed, GAP Steps 4 or 5, or even USDA Organic, which stipulates animals have pasture access for about half the year at least. One exception: Owners of small, local farms often use this phrase to market their meat—and most of them really do raise their cattle on pasture. If you’re buying from a butcher shop or the farmers’ market, ask the farmer or owner if the animals have free access to pasture and how many days or months out of the year they graze on it. USDA Grass Fed The feds recently decided to revoke the standards behind their grass-fed label. It will still exist as a marketing term—it just won’t be held up by any official set of rules. When you want to ensure your meat is 100% grass fed, look for Animal Welfare Approved Grassfed, American Grassfed Assocation, Demeter Biodynamic, or Food Alliance Grassfed labels. 1 Label That’s Somewhere in the MiddleUSDA Process Verified When you see this red, white, and blue shield, it means that all claims on the label—whether “no antibiotics administered,” or “humanely raised,” or “100% Angus Beef,” or all of the above—have been verified by a third-party inspector. It works like this: Farmers get to choose which claims they put on their labels, then they pay the USDA to send out the third-party inspector. Once the claims are vetted, the product gets stamped with the Process Verified shield. It’s totally voluntary—and the fact that farmers pay for it typically means they want to be transparent about their practices. That said, experts say this shield usually means more when it’s verifying objective claims, like “no antibiotics used,” as opposed to more subjective claims that are open to interpretation, like “humanely raised.” Luckily, the USDA has taken steps to make the process extremely transparent, and you can find out exactly how each specific farmer defines their own label claims by checking out this chart. Need more info? If you come across a beef label not included here, check out Consumer Reports Eco-Labels. It’s a huge database that shows you what labels look like, what they mean, and whether or not they’re independently verified.
