Healthier meat & dairy

• Current controversies
• Pastured meat and dairy
• Hormones and antibiotics
• rBGH
• Factory farming
• Country of origin labeling (COOL)
• PCC's quality standards
• Links & resources

PCC's commitment to safer beef

PCC's beef ranchers — Eel River Organic Beef and Country Natural Beef — have set much higher standards that go well beyond what the federal rules allow. They have confirmed a significant list of important differences that set them apart from ranchers who supply mass-market supermarket stores.

These differences include:

• All rendered animal by-products have long been banned from the feed supply. The cattle are honored as herbivores.
• AMR (Advanced Meat Recovery) systems, allowing spinal tissue to be labeled "100% beef," are not used.
• Compliance with feed standards is documented and enforced at every farm for traceability.
• Compliance with feed standards is documented and enforced at the feed processing level for traceability.
• Individual records are maintained for every animal.

All three ranchers have long prohibited downer cattle from entering the food supply. In contrast, downer cattle were prohibited from the supermarket beef supply on December 30, 2003.

Taste you can trust PCC carries only Eel River Organic Beef and Country Natural Beef. See how these trusted suppliers compare to supermarket beef.
Precautionary measures in beef production	Eel River Organic Beef	Country Natural Beef	Supermarket Beef
All rendered animal by-products are banned from feed supply.	YES	YES	NO * Details
100% grass diet	YES	NO	NO
Compliance with feed standards is documented and enforced at every farm.	YES	YES	NO
Compliance with feed standards is documented and enforced at the feed processing level.	YES	YES	NO
Standards prohibit use of Advanced Meat Recovery (AMR) systems that allow spinal tissue to be labeled "100% beef."	YES	YES	NO
Individual records are maintained for every animal.	YES	YES	NO
"Downer" cattle have long been prohibited from entering food supply.	YES	YES	YES Effective 12/30/03
Certified organic feed and pasture.	YES	NO	NO
* Details: Current rules allow bovine blood, blood meal, dead chickens, feathers and their litter in cattle feed. Bovine brains, eyes, skulls and spinal cords from cattle younger than 30 months still are allowed in the human food supply. Source: Federal Register, January 12, 2004.