What is the difference between “grass-fed” and “grass-finished”?
The definition of grass-fed is controversial. Thus far, there is no official guidelines. At this point, grass-fed means that the animal has been eaten grass or hay for a period of its life, but does not necessarily mean that it has lived on pasture nor that it has been fed grain for a given period. It also doesn’t mean that the animal hasn’t been raised in a feedlot entirely on grain at the end of its life. in addition to the ethical objections to supporting this type of animal confinement, finishing an animal on grain alone detracts considerably from the omega-3 content of the meat. Ultimately, this impacts the health benefit of the meat considerably. Knowing that animal was grass-fed and finished, however, means that the animal has eaten grass for its entire life and was not in confinement eating grain alone. Confirming that an animal was grass-fed and -finished is an important and meaningful distinction.
