What's The Difference Between Organic And Grass-Fed Beef?

The modern supermarket is loaded with as many food items as marketing buzzwords. There can be organic wines, organic ice cream, and organic butter (plus a whole lot more), but when it comes to buying beef, it can be even tougher to distinguish the quality offerings from the pricey impostors (and the substance-less greenwashing tactics). So, what's the difference between organic and grass-fed beef, anyway?

The short answer is that grass-fed beef has been fed a diet of only or mostly grass and has been raised only or mostly on open pastures. Conversely, the "organic" label (not to be confused with "natural") indicates that the cattle were raised following strict standards for feed quality and living conditions. In order to obtain USDA Organic Certification, a beef producer must be third-party verified. The USDA has even been implementing added measures to help thwart organic food fraud. When it comes to producing grass-fed beef, however, there is no third-party verification — and, haven't most cattle eaten grass at some point in their lives? Pro tip to consumers: look for the "100% grass-fed and finished beef" label at the grocery store to know what you're getting.

On the flip side, the "organic" label also comes with a gray area of its own. As long as the feed used in a feedlot meets organic quality standards, cattle can spend the majority of their lives on feedlots and still legally be labeled as "organic."

According to USDA organic livestock requirements, organic beef must be "fed 100 percent certified organic feed," which means no added growth hormones, no artificial preservatives, and no chemical fertilizers or pesticides — for the steer or for the consumer that eats the beef thereof. Organic cattle must also be allowed at least 120 days per year of access to the outdoors, fresh air, space for exercise, and direct sunlight. Unsanitary pens and overcrowded shelters are also forbidden.

The grassy fields on which those cattle graze must also be separately audited and certified as organic by the USDA. As of 2022, the USDA has 48 agencies that can certify beef farmers. These strict regulations help limit unsafe, unsanitary industrial farming practices, but also mean that cattle can eat organic corn and grain diets for portions (or most) of their lives while still legally bearing the "organic" label, even if they spent a lot of time living in feedlots.

Ideally, raising organic livestock can also help eliminate the need for antibiotics and make industry issues that commonly arise in large-scale factory farming obsolete. For instance, as The Cornucopia Institute notes, "Since organic beef herds tend to be much smaller than the massive herds in conventional feedlots, farmers are also more likely to notice and notice more quickly, when an animal is sick or lame. Earlier intervention when disease strikes frequently means the intervention can be less intrusive."

Grass-fed beef comes from cattle raised in open pastures that eat grasses, legumes, and other plants. Giving cattle access to large areas of dense grass mimics their natural eating patterns of grazing and foraging, supporting an overall healthy internal lifestyle pattern. However, grass-fed steers are typically not given 24/7 access to a pasture, instead being allowed to graze at permitted structured times. The alternative to grass-fed beef is grain-fed beef, in which cattle are fed a calorie-rich diet of corn and grain intended to bulk them up more quickly and inspire unnaturally fast growth, yielding higher beef returns for lower feed costs. 

Lack of confinement and increased activity also play a huge role in determining the nutritional and taste qualities of the beef, with grass-fed beef being leaner, more flavorful, and more nutrient-dense than regular, less-gamey, fat-marbled beef. Cultivating grass-fed beef can even be a climate-healing exercise in regenerative agriculture. However, beef labeled as "grass-fed" can come from cows that graze on pastures that have been treated with chemical fertilizers. The only exception here is if beef is labeled as both "grass-fed" and "organic." Still, considering the amount of grassland that would be necessary to implement grass-feeding on a global scale, in conjunction with the longer raising time, (at least for now) grass-fed beef remains a pricier specialty grocery item.