Corn-fed Beef: Inexpensive, but Destructive

In today's society, sometimes it's hard to know what exactly is in your food -- or how it's been raised. When you picture how your beef was raised, what do you picture? Most people picture cows roaming free in a pasture, grazing on grass as they please. Today, less than 5 percent of beef sold is raised that way. (Thomas) Most beef that you would find at your local super market was grown in a crowded feedlot, where the cattle are fed grain, primarily corn.

Feeding a cow corn can lead to a plethora of health and nutritional issues. Before World War Two, cattle were fed only grass. Corn has never been part of the normal diet of a cow. Feeding a cow corn can lead to an over-abundance of acid in the cow's digestive tract. This is a problem because the E. Coli bacteria can become resistant to the acid, which usually kills the E. Coli. When the beef is consumed, our body's natural defense, acid, is useless. (Arsenault)

Grain-fed beef also has more fat, saturated fat, calories, and cholestoral than grass fed beef. On top of that, it has less vitamin E, beta-carotene, Vitamin C, and omega-3 fatty acids. (NW Health, Arsenault)

Because of all the illnesses that can come out of feeding a cow grain, cows are given antibiotics. After a while, the cattle forms an immunity to the antibiotics, which can be transferred to someone who eats beef from the cow. This means that if I were to get sick from Salmonella, the strain may be resistant to antibiotics that I take. (PreventDisease)

So why do people continute to produce and eat Grain-fed beef? Good question. The main reason why grain-fed beef is still raised that way is because it's more efficient and cheaper for the producers. The reason why people still buy it is because it's cheaper than grass-fed beef and in some people's opinions, it tastes better.