USDA passes organic standards, asks for finishing input

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Joyce Henion on February 16, 2010 at 12:56pm

The pasture rule has been a hot topic for a long time as smaller organic farmers comment in favor of the pasture rule while large factory style organic farms protested the rule. Ultimately 30% of dry matter for four months of the year is not a very big part of the animal's diet and should be an easy goal to reach. Of course huge farms with thousands of cows don't think so....
The grain finishing issue is an interesting one. Studies have proven that cattle that are grain finished will have a higher population of E. Coli bacteria including the very dangerous E. coli 0157:H7 (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/05/010511074623.htm). The presence of E. coli in the gut at slaughter increases the possibility of contamination of meat. It seems that allowing grain finishing in organic production is counter-intuitive and compromises the belief that organically produced foods are safer.