Have you heard of CAFO? This is the acronym for confined animal feeding operation. This is where most of the livestock meat we eat comes from. Almost all the meat in restaurants is from CAFO animals. Same for the meat found in most large supermarkets. What does this mean? This means you are consuming small amounts of antibiotics and other drugs in every bite. This can have an adverse affect on your gut health and a damaging effect on your overall health. It also increases your exposure to antibiotic-resistant infections.
CAFOs are major warehouse-style growing facilities where animals are crowded together by the thousands and fed a completely unnatural diet of glyphosate-containing genetically engineered grains mixed with antibiotics. Glyphosate is commonly known as Roundup® which is made by our dear friends at Monsanto. The real disturbing news is that animal byproducts are often mixed in with the grain feed. According to realfarmacy.com the beef industry still uses a feed product that consists of a rendered mix of chicken manure, dead chickens, feathers, and spilled chicken feed which includes cow meat and bone meal which are suppose to be off limits for cows! Pigs, chickens, and turkeys can also be fed cattle byproducts. Eating meat from livestock fed animal byproducts carries a high risk of contamination and exposes the consumer to the human version of Mad Cow Disease which has been connected to Alzheimer’s.
What can you do to protect your health when eating meat? Know where your meat comes from. Support your local farmers who do not use CAFO. Support local butcher shops where you can ask the source of their meat. At Georgetown Market we carry high quality meat from Simpson’s Family Farms which offers grass-fed beef that is free of antibiotics, vaccinations, chemicals, and GMO grain. We also offer meat from Fischer Farms, Smoking Goose, Sheepdog Farms, Millers Chicken and Bowman and Landes.