![Meat matters: Consumers want their purchases to make a difference Meat matters: Consumers want their purchases to make a difference](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt09e5e63517a16184/bltafc06db067aebac6/64cbf83cdb0bcc7a8de33eaa/NewHopeNetwork_Horizontal_RGB.png?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
Cooking at home for months has turned many consumers into full-blown chefs. Top-quality, stunningly flavorful meats like these are must-have ingredients for the inspired home gourmet.
Pre Brands' meats are 100% grass fed and grass finished on pasture—never in feedlots. This Non-GMO Project Verified product is sourced from farms in Australia and New Zealand that follow the Five Freedoms of animal welfare, then prepared and packaged in Chicago. The 1.75-pound tenderloin roast comes vacuum-sealed with cooking tips and recipe ideas. SRP: $49.99
Representing the brand's holistic approach to the health of people and planet, nutrient-rich organ meats including bison liver and heart are added to ground bison, all from 100% grass-fed, regeneratively raised animals. With a flavor and texture similar to that of simple ground bison, this product is the perfect substitution in any recipe. SRP: $11.99
This regeneratively raised beef comes from cows that graze on open pastures across the U.S. In addition to meeting the company's strict Lifetime Grazed standards for 100% grass-fed, grain-free meat, this 12-ounce package of beef tenderloin tips carries American Grassfed Association certification. SRP: $12.99
These lamb steaks come from 100% grass-fed animals that wander the lush pastures of New Zealand. Each 8-ounce package contains two lean, juicy steaks cut from the topside muscle. Cook for just eight minutes for the perfect medium-rare lamb steak. SRP: $9.99
Regenerative practices are central to this new brand, whose debut SKU is this 1-pound resealable bag of grass-fed ground beef. Key to Wholesome Meats' message are the nutritional and environmental benefits of this product, which the company sources from family-owned local ranches in San Antonio, Texas. SRP: $9.99
When kitchen inspiration is in short supply, shoppers can dive into any of these prepared meat dishes for a satisfyingly tasty meal—with much less cleanup, too!
These gourmet chicken burgers combine Granny Smith apples and creamy gouda cheese with smoky seasonings including black pepper, thyme, cassia, sage, mace, ginger, coriander and smoked sugar. Their best attribute, however, is that the chicken is antibiotic free and raised according to this family-owned brand's stringent Humane Animal Welfare standards. SRP: $6.99
Flexitarians will love these burgers made with 100% grass-fed beef and savory mushrooms and seasoned with simple, real-food ingredients. They offer an easy way to cut back on meat consumption, and the antibiotic- and hormone-free beef in these patties is 100% pasture raised, Non-GMO Project Verified and Certified Humane. SRP: $9.99
This fourth-generation family company raises animals carefully and slowly on an all-vegetarian diet, without the use of hormones or antibiotics. Spinach, feta, garlic, black pepper and a sweet tomato glaze give this Mediterranean-style meatloaf its rich flavors. Made from butcher-quality whole-muscle cuts, this fully cooked product needs just 20 minutes in the oven to be dinner-table ready. SRP: $8.99
The grass-fed and grass-finished beef in these carnitas is raised slowly, with the cows grazing on the pastures of this company's regeneratively farmed land in California. Made from only beef, water, vinegar and spices, this USDA Organic, Certified Humane product has 20 grams of protein, zero net carbs and no added sugar. Just heat and serve for the perfect addition to any recipe. SRP: $8.99
Meat-based snacks including jerky, biltong and grab-and-go charcuterie are back, thanks to the popularity of protein-forward lifestyles such as keto. But today's versions boast cleaner and simpler ingredients, no added sugar and innovative formats.
The pork in these meaty snacks is humanely raised on the pastures of family-owned farms in the U.S. This variety, one of five in the Salami Minis line, is flavored with organic spices, garlic and Grana Padano cheese imported from Italy. With 19 grams of protein and zero grams of sugar, these shelf-stable minis make the perfect snack any time of day. SRP: $6.99
These crunchy, shelf-stable thins are packed with simple, mega-flavorful ingredients including Spanish paprika, garlic and salt. With 11 grams of protein per serving, they are also carb free. But the most important ingredient is the humanely raised, antibiotic-free pork, sourced according to the company's mission to support regenerative practices. SRP: $7.99
This Non-GMO Project Verified salame begins with humanely raised pork that's air-dried and blended with spices for the perfect ready-to-eat charcuterie bite. Plus, all of the animals used in this brand's meats are third-party certified for animal welfare, vegetarian fed and antibiotic and hormone free. SRP: $5.99
This USDA Organic jerky is made from 100% grass-fed American buffalo that spend their lives roaming Great Plains grasslands—fulfilling a key role in the recovery of that ecosystem. This spiced version gets its tart-sweet flavor and slight kick from Aji Molido, a ground sun-dried pepper from Argentina's highlands. SRP: $10
This chef-crafted jerky starts with 100% grass-fed, grass-finished, pasture-raised beef, sourced in partnership with American and Australian ranchers who support regenerative land-management practices. This clean-label, sugar-free variety is also free of eight major allergens, including soy, which is replaced by organic chickpea miso. SRP: $6.99
This chef-crafted jerky starts with 100% grass-fed, grass-finished, pasture-raised beef, sourced in partnership with American and Australian ranchers who support regenerative land-management practices. This clean-label, sugar-free variety is also free of eight major allergens, including soy, which is replaced by organic chickpea miso. SRP: $6.99
Two decades ago, Matt Meier sold his food marketing agency and moved his family from the Twin Cities back to the Clearwater, Minnesota, farming community where he was born and raised.
"I knew I wanted to do something to improve the food system," he says. "My research kept leading me back to grass-fed beef and the positive impact that grazing ruminants can have on the soil and product nutrition."
Meier bought some cattle, invested in a local company (of which he eventually took full ownership) and started raising beef. All around him, however, he saw giant operators renting tillable land from small farms and planting an endless rotation of GMO monocrops, degrading one farm after another. Located about a mile from the Mississippi River, this hilly, wetland-dotted area was highly eroded and virtually devoid of organic matter.
Knowing there was a better way to farm, Meier started reaching out to adjacent landowners to try to convince them. Instead of renting the land to corn and soybean farmers, he suggested they all "transform it back into diverse grasses, legumes and forbs; we can replenish and save the eroding, depleted soil."
His strategy worked. Today, Meier's natural meat brand, Thousand Hills, relies on a network of 60 producers. So far, it has helped family farmers convert 600,000 acres to regenerative agriculture—with the goal of reaching 2 million acres by 2025. Many of the early converts were won over by the informal pitches Meier made at industry events for years. But the most convincing arguments were the results: arrested erosion, heathier soil, better water absorption, greater productivity and the return of pollinators and other wildlife.
"I believe this is absolutely vital to saving our food system," Meier says. "We need grazing ruminants to regenerate and rebuild our soil and get nutrition back into our food. We need to not mine our soil for as long as we can, allowing it to regenerate on its own so it can continue to produce for future generations."
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Understanding meat monikers
More and more meat producers who share Meier's passion for improving the food system are embracing regenerative agriculture and other holistic practices. But perhaps the biggest challenge to the continued growth of this movement is consumer unfamiliarity with the term regenerative agriculture. Even better-known meat designations such as grass fed, 100% grass fed, grass finished and USDA Organic are often misunderstood and seen as interchangeable by consumers. They struggle to understand how each pertains to an animal's diet, feed quality (GMO, organic, etc.), living conditions, ability to graze on open pasture and exposure to hormones and antibiotics.
Many producers aim to address these ambiguities by creating their own standards. Examples include Thousand Hills' Lifetime Grazed trademark and Applegate Farms' Applegate Humanely Raised standards, which are third-party verified by Global Animal Partnership and Certified Humane. The American Grassfed Association offers another trusted independent certification, used by Thousand Hills and some 500 other producers of ruminant meat animals, dairy cattle and pastured pork.
Guiding consumers
Labeling uncertainty aside, consumers are increasingly interested in healthier, more humane and more sustainable alternatives to conventional meat. In an August 2019 survey of 1,000 consumers conducted by New Hope Network NEXT Data and Insights, 41% of respondents reported eating grass-fed meat more often during the previous 10 weeks than they had the previous year.
"Consumers want more flavorful, nutrient-rich foods, but perhaps even more importantly, they want their purchases to matter," says Robby Sansom, CEO of Force of Nature Meats. "They want to be able to trust that the companies they support are truly putting purpose alongside profits."
Natural products retailers share the burden of educating shoppers about these products. Especially, Sansom says, since the pandemic's impact on the conventional meat supply has accelerated the quest for transparency. Even though many natural retailers lack traditional meat departments, that hasn't stopped new customers from turning to them to fill the supply-chain gap left by conventional meat—and to respond to increasingly urgent concerns about their own health and that of the planet. This has given natural retailers an interesting opportunity to share the stories behind their products and provide customers with the transparency they value.
For example, Green Acres Market, which has seven locations in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, carries mainly frozen and refrigerated meats. Still, according to president and chief financial officer Shannon Hoffmann, the pandemic has brought in a lot of new customers looking for products they can't find at conventional grocers. Without full meat counters, Hoffmann says it's very important to educate first-time shoppers on the benefits of Green Acres' frozen products. "When new customers see the quality of what we have and then take it home and try it," she says, "they tend to stick with us."
Another big selling point, Hoffmann adds, is that Green Acres focuses on local meats. Working directly with producers to secure its supply chain allowed the company to pivot quickly when the pandemic hit. "We went straight to some of our local producers and partnered with them to harvest whole cows, which they packaged for us to distribute in our stores," she says.
These direct partnerships also make it possible for Green Acres to increase production runs and truck products from store to store as necessary. This strategy is not without pitfalls, though, particularly as some small-scale meat producers have faced processing challenges this year. "One of [our producers] has gotten behind because of overbooked production facilities," Hoffmann says. "So we won't get any Wagyu until January."
Looking to the future
The same kind of resiliency and flexibility demonstrated by Green Acres has helped plenty of other natural retailers survive the recent crisis. These qualities have served many responsible meat producers well, too. In several cases, these businesses have even thrived through the pandemic, marked by increased sales and new customers.
The true test will come as the COVID-19 threat lessens: Will consumers continue to be discriminating about where their meats come from? Will they keep making the effort to support stores and brands that embrace regenerative agriculture and ethical and sustainable sourcing? We can only hope that the work retailers and meat producers put in now to educate and serve shoppers will pay off in dividends down the road.
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