5 common questions for evaluating most animal protein sources

The sheer volume of food terms can make your head spin, not to mention the differences in how those terms apply to different animals. So for a simpler view, look for answers to these 5 questions (click question link for more detail). They’ll give you a good starting view on source quality for most animal proteins.

1. What do they eat? - Even the omnivores in this mix rarely indulge their inner meat eater (and certainly not in the way factory farms do), so look for vegetarianism to start, beyond that the more pasture the better.
2. Are they growing like nature intended? – What’s bad for baseball players, i.e. muscling up at an artificially induced rate, is bad for animals too. So look for assurance that no artificial anything (stimulants, hormones, etc.) are juicing growth.
3. How much can they move around? – All these animals are meant to move around and do what they do. The freer they are the better, particularly when that freedom happens outdoors.
4. How close are they to me? - However strict your definition of local, the less frequent flier miles your protein racked up en route to you the better.
5. Who raises them? – Say it with me, “away from factory practices, toward family farms.”

Again, the goal here is to look at sources with these core factors in mind so you can get an overall picture of how the animal was raised and square that with priorities you care about most and the resources (time and money) you have. Factory farming is typically going to fare poorly on many if not all of these questions but be significantly cheaper. Pasture-based family farms will likely score very well on most but be meaningfully more expensive. Then there are lots of points in between.

Here’s a bit more detail on answers to look for to each question:

What do they eat?

• Vegetarian diets, no animal byproducts, nothing artificial added to feed - all these are important and not automatic.
• Grass and other forage are closest to nature’s intent and likely (though not always) meaning the animals are pastured which is a good thing.
• Organic? - There’s a regulated standard for it so you’re getting the vegetarian diet assurance plus pesticide, etc. limitations. But plenty of places that follow organic feed specs haven’t been certified as such and the label doesn’t tell you much about how the animals are raised. So good to have in either standard, but making it a must is pretty limiting.

Are they growing like nature intended?

• No growth stimulants, added hormones, or artificial anything to juice growth.
• No antibiotics which are used to zap all the sickness that emerges when you try to speed natural growth through the confinement feeding and drugs common to factory farming.

How much can they move around?

• No cages, confinement pens or crates – all staples of factory operations that wreak untold havoc on the happiness and health of animals.
• Room to move around - ideally outdoors but at least in bigger, well ventilated barns with good sunlight. Look for terms like free to roam, which at least indicate you’re out of cage-ville, and free range, which brings the outdoors in to play though barely (see glossary). References to deep natural bedding also indicate healthier conditions in indoor settings.
• Pastured or raised on pasture - the top of the heap because it tells you the animals are living mostly outdoors, getting sunlight, breathing fresh air, eating forage and enjoying regular exercise.

How close are they to me?

• There’s a pretty big range on this local question. The stricter definition? Within 100 miles. The pretty common, but less strict version? Within the same state or less than 400 miles. Either way, by itself means little. After all, if you live near a factory plant, you could have local chicken for dinner all you want but might fail all the other questions. But at least tells you your food racked up fewer frequent flier miles getting to you. And you’d be surprised at how far away some higher-grade proteins come from (think chains who need greater volume at lower price) – like grassfed beef from places like Argentina and Australia.

Who raises them?

• For most of us, supporting the continued vitality of family farms is a good thing unto itself. More directly though we reasonably feel better about the accountability and practices used in raising our food when family livelihoods, reputations, traditions and longstanding community relationships are so clearly at work. Definitely some rivers to cross yet in terms of affordability and access to this supply, but it’s getting easier with the spread of farmers markets, buying clubs, and groups of family farms banding together into cooperatives.

For more sourcing info move on to the sourcing view by animal, browse other parts of the DIY guide or check out the glossary to dig up a term you don’t recognize.