It’s odd for me to see a big juicy beef hamburger on Veggietime, but the fact is that even though I choose to eat a vegetarian diet, my real concern is that people make responsible choices with regards to what they put in their bodies – meat or not.

The headline of an article in the Tuesday April 13th edition of the USA Today reads, “Growing Concern’ Over Marketing Tainted Beef,” and goes on to say that, “Beef, containing harmful pesticides, veterinary antibiotics and heavy metals is being sold to the public because federal agencies have failed to set limits for the contaminants or adequately test for them….”

The agency in question, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), is also the party responsible for testing meats for salmonella and certain strains of E. coli.

A chart alongside the article outlines the name of various drugs or substances that if found in the meat could lead to potential side effects including Aresenic, a chemical element that can potentially cause non-malignant skin lesions, skin malignancy, internal malignancies, vascular diseases and hypertension. Sounds fun, right?

If that’s not enough of a reason to reconsider your options, benefits of choosing organic free range grass fed beef are that it’s a great source of beta carotene, contains more vitamins A and E, has no risk of mad cow disease, contains less calories than grain fed beef, and less saturated fat than conventional beef. After all, if you must eat beef, at least make sure you are eating some that is not potentially harmful to your health.

More Benefits of Organic?

No Antibiotics > Reduces Your Risk of Being Antibiotic Resistant

No Growth Promoting Hormones

Why Free Range?

Better Treatment for the Animals > Not Confined to Feed Lots

Better for the Environment > Grass Pastures Efficiently Removes Harmful Co2 From the Air

More Benefits of Grass Fed Beef?

Great Source of CLA Conjugated Linoleic Acid: A Fat that Reduces Risk of Cancer, Obesity, Diabetes, and a Number of Autoimmune Disorders