I was invited by the Texas Beef Council to participate in their Beef Recipe Grilling Experience, and I thought why not, sure. I knew Kurt would be happy with a grilled steak for a meal. Grill a steak, no problem, make Kurt happy, all well and good, but wait a minute, what about my hang-ups about red meat and issues with beef processing and all of that? Could I accept this offer from TBC with a clear conscience? How would this rate in the realm of food blogging ethics? I decided to turn this into a little research project, ask some questions of TBC, and report my findings here. Before I get to all of that, I’ll tell you about this grilled steak and salsa, and farther on down the page, I’ll explain what I learned about the Texas beef industry.
From a list of five different recipes from TBC, I chose the grilled steak with mango salsa. We’ve had mango salsa with grilled fish before, but pairing it with steak was a first for Kurt. The salsa came together quickly and easily. Dice a fresh mango and combine with minced green onion, fresh lime juice, chopped cilantro, and a finely chopped red chile. Just for fun, I added a finely chopped red habanero too. A marinade for the steak was made from lime juice, green onion, ginger, garlic, and salt. The steak bathed in that, in the refrigerator, for a few hours. When the grill was ready, the marinade bits were swiped from its surface so they wouldn’t burn, and it went over the coals. Kurt enjoyed the hint of lime in the meat from the marinade and was happy with the salsa with the steak. He usually keeps his grilled steak rather simple by just seasoning with salt and pepper before grilling, but he said this was a nice change of pace. I can report that the salsa was also very good with grilled chicken, and I’m now convinced that mango salsa would probably go well with any kind of protein. Have a look at the TBC site for many more beef recipes.
Now, about my conscience being my guide for this post:
First, I’ll attempt to explain my reasons for not eating red meat. I grew up eating pretty regular, American, meat and potatoes meals. However, when given options, I always chose fish and fowl over red meat. So, one April morning in 1991 when I attended an Earth Day event on the University of Illinois campus and learned about the environmental impact of cattle ranching, I made what was an easy decision to stop eating red meat. There are also a host of health-related reasons for eating lower on the food chain, but the simple fact is that I didn’t miss it much once I stopped eating it.
These days, we’ve all heard the news regarding concerns about the beef industry. A frequently repeated statement is that you can do more for the environment by eating less meat than by making any other single lifestyle change. I read both Fast Food Nation
and The Omnivore's Dilemma with great interest. Disturbing information about the beef industry was presented in both books. This topic has been discussed at length and current practices have been criticized by many in recent months. Rather than rehashing all of that information, my goal for this post was to ask some questions in hopes of finding news of positive change in the beef industry. I contacted the Texas Beef Council, asked a lot of questions, and learned a great deal about the beef industry.
Some quick facts:
-Texas has 149,000 ranchers, cattlemen, and dairy farmers. This figure represents about 15% of the nation’s combined nearly one million beef and dairy producers.
-The Texas Department of Agriculture has recognized almost 4,200 farms and ranches in 232 counties across Texas for more than a century of continuous operation. Five ranches have been recognized for 200 years and 80 farms and ranches for 150 years of operation.
-Total global greenhouse gas emissions from livestock for 2006 was 18%, but the EPA put the percentage from livestock in the US at 6%.
-The TBC was established in 1986 by beef producers who wanted this council to operate as an advertising and marketing arm of the industry. The TBC is funded by receiving one dollar from each head of cattle raised in Texas.
Beef producers in Texas come in all sizes. There are smaller producers who raise less than 100 head of cattle on their property, and there are others who operate multiple ranches in different locations. At some point these cattle all come together in what has become the conventional process. There are several stages in the cycle of conventional beef production. First, there are cow/calf producers who breed calves that are sold to other ranchers. The calves are sold to ranchers who have available land where cattle can graze. This is the most interesting aspect of the cycle to me because there is only so much land and so much grass where cattle can be fed. Because of that, next in the cycle, cattle may be sold to a stocker who tends the animals and feeds them until they reach the weight at which they can be sold to a feedlot. A feedlot sets the weight at which they’ll buy based on the current price of grain. Once cattle arrive at a feedlot, they are grain-fed until they reach market weight. Grain is grown in mass quantities and is a more efficient feeding solution that grass pasturing. The last transfer in the cycle is to the harvesting plant, or slaughterhouse, where the beef is processed into various cuts.
Interestingly, as cattle are moved from one stage of the cycle to another, they may not spend their entire life in one state. Many of the feedlots are located closer to where the grain is grown in the Midwest. Likewise, many harvesting plants are located near the feedlots. This led me to the question of what then is Texas beef? I was told that the official designation of Texas beef as defined by the Texas Department of Agriculture is that the product must have had some value added in the state of Texas. That means that just one part of the whole process must have taken place in Texas. Therefore, not all Texas beef is completely born, raised, and processed in this state.
So, there are issues with supply and demand. Because of limited space and difficulties in providing enough grass, as demand for beef has grown, the process developed to move cattle to feedlots to be finished on grain. Bringing so many animals together in one place has led to other practices such as the use of antibiotics to prevent diseases being spread among so many animals. There are a lot of concerns and questions, both about the safety of the meat and the environmental consequences regarding this practice, and I did not learn of any alternatives or future plans regarding this issue. The TBC is confident in the FDA’s approval of the use of antibiotics. This is the situation in the area of large production. There are small-scale producers who are raising cattle entirely on grass, never sending them to feedlots or harvesting plants, and having them butchered locally. The difficulty is that as long as demand remains where it is or increases, it’s just not possible to supply enough beef from these kinds of small-scale operations.
I ended up feeling like I didn’t quite find the good news story I was hoping to report, but I did find that the people with whom I spoke at TBC are working hard to make Texas beef the best it can be. They genuinely believe in the programs they offer and are proud of the level of quality they see at all stages of the production process. They also feel that a lot of the criticism towards the beef industry is unfair or exaggerated. It’s not their goal to promote any particular way of raising beef but simply to promote all beef in Texas.
For Kurt and me, our preference is to support local, small-scale beef producers. However, there is a limit to what they can produce. We stopped by the farmers’ market last Saturday to purchase a locally raised, grass-fed, grass-finished, locally butchered steak, and the vendor was sold out an hour and a half after the market opened. So, the steak pictured in this post was a locally raised, grass-fed New York strip steak purchased at Whole Foods. The nice man at the meat counter told us that particular steak came from a processing plant in Fort Worth which only processes naturally- and organically-raised cattle given no antibiotics. The cost was the same as the other steaks in the case. If you’re interested in supporting one kind of beef production over another, ask questions about where and how your beef was raised. Or, consider seeking out a local beef producer at your farmers’ market. I don’t have any answers for the big questions about the industry, but we’ll continue to choose local, grass-fed beef for Kurt’s occasional steak meals.
From a list of five different recipes from TBC, I chose the grilled steak with mango salsa. We’ve had mango salsa with grilled fish before, but pairing it with steak was a first for Kurt. The salsa came together quickly and easily. Dice a fresh mango and combine with minced green onion, fresh lime juice, chopped cilantro, and a finely chopped red chile. Just for fun, I added a finely chopped red habanero too. A marinade for the steak was made from lime juice, green onion, ginger, garlic, and salt. The steak bathed in that, in the refrigerator, for a few hours. When the grill was ready, the marinade bits were swiped from its surface so they wouldn’t burn, and it went over the coals. Kurt enjoyed the hint of lime in the meat from the marinade and was happy with the salsa with the steak. He usually keeps his grilled steak rather simple by just seasoning with salt and pepper before grilling, but he said this was a nice change of pace. I can report that the salsa was also very good with grilled chicken, and I’m now convinced that mango salsa would probably go well with any kind of protein. Have a look at the TBC site for many more beef recipes.Now, about my conscience being my guide for this post:First, I’ll attempt to explain my reasons for not eating red meat. I grew up eating pretty regular, American, meat and potatoes meals. However, when given options, I always chose fish and fowl over red meat. So, one April morning in 1991 when I attended an Earth Day event on the University of Illinois campus and learned about the environmental impact of cattle ranching, I made what was an easy decision to stop eating red meat. There are also a host of health-related reasons for eating lower on the food chain, but the simple fact is that I didn’t miss it much once I stopped eating it.
These days, we’ve all heard the news regarding concerns about the beef industry. A frequently repeated statement is that you can do more for the environment by eating less meat than by making any other single lifestyle change. I read both Fast Food Nation
and The Omnivore's Dilemma with great interest. Disturbing information about the beef industry was presented in both books. This topic has been discussed at length and current practices have been criticized by many in recent months. Rather than rehashing all of that information, my goal for this post was to ask some questions in hopes of finding news of positive change in the beef industry. I contacted the Texas Beef Council, asked a lot of questions, and learned a great deal about the beef industry.Some quick facts:
-Texas has 149,000 ranchers, cattlemen, and dairy farmers. This figure represents about 15% of the nation’s combined nearly one million beef and dairy producers.
-The Texas Department of Agriculture has recognized almost 4,200 farms and ranches in 232 counties across Texas for more than a century of continuous operation. Five ranches have been recognized for 200 years and 80 farms and ranches for 150 years of operation.
-Total global greenhouse gas emissions from livestock for 2006 was 18%, but the EPA put the percentage from livestock in the US at 6%.
-The TBC was established in 1986 by beef producers who wanted this council to operate as an advertising and marketing arm of the industry. The TBC is funded by receiving one dollar from each head of cattle raised in Texas.
Beef producers in Texas come in all sizes. There are smaller producers who raise less than 100 head of cattle on their property, and there are others who operate multiple ranches in different locations. At some point these cattle all come together in what has become the conventional process. There are several stages in the cycle of conventional beef production. First, there are cow/calf producers who breed calves that are sold to other ranchers. The calves are sold to ranchers who have available land where cattle can graze. This is the most interesting aspect of the cycle to me because there is only so much land and so much grass where cattle can be fed. Because of that, next in the cycle, cattle may be sold to a stocker who tends the animals and feeds them until they reach the weight at which they can be sold to a feedlot. A feedlot sets the weight at which they’ll buy based on the current price of grain. Once cattle arrive at a feedlot, they are grain-fed until they reach market weight. Grain is grown in mass quantities and is a more efficient feeding solution that grass pasturing. The last transfer in the cycle is to the harvesting plant, or slaughterhouse, where the beef is processed into various cuts.Interestingly, as cattle are moved from one stage of the cycle to another, they may not spend their entire life in one state. Many of the feedlots are located closer to where the grain is grown in the Midwest. Likewise, many harvesting plants are located near the feedlots. This led me to the question of what then is Texas beef? I was told that the official designation of Texas beef as defined by the Texas Department of Agriculture is that the product must have had some value added in the state of Texas. That means that just one part of the whole process must have taken place in Texas. Therefore, not all Texas beef is completely born, raised, and processed in this state.
So, there are issues with supply and demand. Because of limited space and difficulties in providing enough grass, as demand for beef has grown, the process developed to move cattle to feedlots to be finished on grain. Bringing so many animals together in one place has led to other practices such as the use of antibiotics to prevent diseases being spread among so many animals. There are a lot of concerns and questions, both about the safety of the meat and the environmental consequences regarding this practice, and I did not learn of any alternatives or future plans regarding this issue. The TBC is confident in the FDA’s approval of the use of antibiotics. This is the situation in the area of large production. There are small-scale producers who are raising cattle entirely on grass, never sending them to feedlots or harvesting plants, and having them butchered locally. The difficulty is that as long as demand remains where it is or increases, it’s just not possible to supply enough beef from these kinds of small-scale operations.
I ended up feeling like I didn’t quite find the good news story I was hoping to report, but I did find that the people with whom I spoke at TBC are working hard to make Texas beef the best it can be. They genuinely believe in the programs they offer and are proud of the level of quality they see at all stages of the production process. They also feel that a lot of the criticism towards the beef industry is unfair or exaggerated. It’s not their goal to promote any particular way of raising beef but simply to promote all beef in Texas.
For Kurt and me, our preference is to support local, small-scale beef producers. However, there is a limit to what they can produce. We stopped by the farmers’ market last Saturday to purchase a locally raised, grass-fed, grass-finished, locally butchered steak, and the vendor was sold out an hour and a half after the market opened. So, the steak pictured in this post was a locally raised, grass-fed New York strip steak purchased at Whole Foods. The nice man at the meat counter told us that particular steak came from a processing plant in Fort Worth which only processes naturally- and organically-raised cattle given no antibiotics. The cost was the same as the other steaks in the case. If you’re interested in supporting one kind of beef production over another, ask questions about where and how your beef was raised. Or, consider seeking out a local beef producer at your farmers’ market. I don’t have any answers for the big questions about the industry, but we’ll continue to choose local, grass-fed beef for Kurt’s occasional steak meals.
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