finding humanely raised products
In addition to the encouragement and resources shared in our recent posts by Matt and Sarah, "Compassionate Eating as Care of Creation" and "Eating Humanely: Why and How?", I wanted to pass along a few extra resources which I hope will help in your shopping and decision making. I'd like to thank Patti Monaghen, Jessica Stackhouse and Nenad Uzelac for passing them along:
- National Geographic's Green Guide Beef Label Decoder is very helpful for understanding better what different grocery labels like "Certified Humane," "Animal Welfare Approved" and "USDA Organic" actually mean.
What are the animals fed, and what degree of antiobiotics and hormones are they administered? What access to pasture and other standards of animal welfare are expected? You might be surprised, or disappointed, in some cases. It's always a good idea to do some further googling regarding any specific label you come across, including "Certified Humane."
- Sustainable Table seems to do a very extensive and admirable job promoting sustainable consumerism and agriculture, the latter of which "is a way of raising food that is healthy for consumers and animals, does not harm the environment, is humane for workers, respects animals, provides a fair wage to the farmer, and supports and enhances rural communities."
- Honest Meat is a very rich blog, in terms of content, resources and photography, by Rebecca Thistlethwaite who is "a farmer, non-profit consultant, researcher, and mother."
- And just a reminder of the resources in Sarah Cunningham's post, including Civil Eats which just posted on a restaurant database for "humanely sourced animal products," Cook Local and Eat Well Guide, which allows you to plug in your location in the US or Canada to find farms, markets, restaurants and other purchasing options.
(photo courtesy Daryl DeVries)
March 1, 2010
Reader Comments (4)
Great information, Ben....thank you.
No problem, Tracey, thanks very much for your note, and for checking out the post - Ben
Thanks for all the good tips, Ben--and the beautiful photo! : )
Thanks mom, I've been able to use a lot of dad's great photos of Dutch farm animals in the recent posts. I'm very glad to have access to them - Ben