FAQ

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Click on the Topic of Interest

Are the Meats Heritage, Organic, and Grass-Fed?

Estimating the Cost of an Order

Humane Slaughter

Meat Aging Infomation

Shipping Charges

Taste Differences

Why Don't You Promote Coconut Oil

What's the data on grass-fed beef for calories, fat, saturated fat, & protein

Q: I am looking for "heritage," "organic," "grass fed" beef and chicken. Is that what you sell?

A: We are way beyond organic. For a fact organic is rather meaningless when it comes to food safety and nutrition. It is primarily based on the concept that anything chemical touched by man is bad yet the same chemical (or other chemicals) in natural form are good. Most food borne illnesses are sourced to 100% organic things such as viruses, bacteria, molds, and fungi. Some of the deadliest toxins on earth are 100% organic -- think botulism for only one instance. The majority of toxins that plague all Americans are mycotoxins and they are 100% organic sourced. And organic food products, such as organic grain, are just as destructive to the human body as are conventionally raised food products, and so on.

As for heritage critters, that in itself means nothing when it comes to nutrition. It refers to old breeds of critters (bred to be the old breeds they are by man hundreds of years ago) that have been replaced by newer "blood lines" of the same critters that have been bred by man in more recent times. Usually the heritage breeds are less efficient for numerous reasons. The nutritional characteristics of any animal we eat is totally dependent on what the animal eats and nothing else. (Of course that refers to a healthy animal.) As for critters selectively bred by man, well that is the same thing Mother Nature does. For instance deer from different regions of the nation, even though of the same breed, differ in some ways in order to adapt to their local environment.

You will not find grass-fed meat chickens anywhere. Nearly all meat chickens are raised in what is called a "pastured" environment and they are called "pastured chickens." That is explained in detail in the pastured poultry section of my Web site.

Grass-fed, if the producer of the critters actually understands what that means and actually raises 100% grass-fed critters, is very meaningful in terms of nutrition for not only the animal but the person who eats it. My Web site is loaded with information on the actual nutritional benefits of eating like, what I refer to, as a caveman. Please check out these Web site pages: Science Links, Omega-3 Essays, and Food Analysis.

If you are focused on eating foods that are nutritionally perfect and in getting the straight scoop on what you are eating, you've come to the right place. If you are interested in mostly following popular fads (which is what I call the many beliefs reinforced by certain folks and the media who really do not understand the sound science behind livestock and nutrition), then you are not at the right place. I do want new business, but I want my customers to be buying from us for the right reasons, not for beliefs that will not hold up over time as the general population learns the truth about food and food production. Today, there are many very popular Web sites that rely on scare tactics, mumbo jumbo, and feel good rhetoric that is preposterously off base and in some cases outright distortions of the truth. We refuse to stoop to those kinds of low-life deceptive tactics to get a sale. We tell it like it is and let the chips fall where they may.

Thank you for asking a good question.

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Q: I am interested in purchasing your grass fed beef products. I live near Detroit, Michigan, and notice that the shipping charges are best for 60 lbs. packages. Is this an error on your Web site, or is this really the correct shipping fee? In other areas of your site, you state a 4% discount for orders greater than 67 lbs. and less than 150 lbs. Is this excluding the shipping charge?

A: UPS adds a surcharge on orders over 70 pounds. The surcharge is greater for shorter distances than longer distances. You can see the impact of the surcharge in our Shipping Cost Estimator located in the Shipping Information section of our Web site under ORDERING MEAT. For one-, two-, and three-day shipping orders the lowest cost per pound for shipping meat is in a box holding about 65 pounds of meat. The weight of the meat and the weight of the insulated box takes the total weight to right at 70 pounds. On 65-pound orders we give a 4% discount on the meat order. On orders exceeding 130 pounds we give an 8% discount. On orders exceeding 195 pounds we give a 12% discount. In all cases when orders exceed 70 pounds we pick shipping options that provide the lowest cost per pound. In other words we may ship in two boxes rather than one if it's less expensive. Our goal is for our customers to spend more on meat and less on shipping.

Most meat purveyors on the Web ship by Second Day Air. That's usually $2 or $3 a pound no matter what. That's way too expensive and, I can assure you, no one can afford to absorb that cost-per-pound on a $6 per pound food item. "Free shipping" is literally an enticing come-on for heavy products, but there is no way to fudge on shipping when you ship really big orders like we do. Therefore we have a different approach. We build a box that can withstand the rigors of UPS Ground and are very successful at it. We sell the meat for an easily recognized price and let you know what the real shipping cost is for your order.

When you use the Shipping Cost Estimator you have to read between the lines. Rarely does an order come to an even number like those we depict. Our customers order exactly what they want consequently none of the orders we ship are the same. In order to have boxes for "every option" we have over 70 different box configurations.

In most cases we can have UPS deliver the world's finest grass-fed meat to your front door for less than it costs to buy nutritionally deficient, natural, grain-fed beef at your local Whole Foods store.

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Q: I need no sales job on the virtues of meat from creatures eating what they evolved to eat, having been graced by the presence of a fine hen who took up residence in my highly diverse city yard (really! native plants and lots of them). She made her living strictly from my yard and the one next door, neither of which suffered the assaults of chemical agents. Her eggs were enormous, the yolks nearly red, and intensely flavored.

Well anyway, on to my question. One utterly compelling reason I have forsaken eating meat is the cruelty inherent in the whole process. Feedlots, factory farms, brutality in shipping, slaughtering practices that allow still living animals to be butchered all make it impossible for me to participate in the economic support of this unethical, unhealthy system. But, make no mistake. I am a carnivore. If I knew a skilled and ethical hunter, I'd happily buy from him (her?) and live on venison and the tasty wild swine that infest all our natural areas in Florida.

So, tell me true, here. Who does the slaughtering and how do they do it? I saw no mention of cruelty-free practices on your producers' page, so I must ask the question.

A: One of the many myths of the modern meat industry is the "cruelty to animal" myth. For starters the USDA has a book full of rules about humane treatment and humane slaughter and their inspectors are standing there watching when animals are being slaughtered. But that isn't good enough for most industry members (you can always find a slob here or there). The vast majority of meat processors are trying to adhere to Temple Grandin's standards and they are tough -- much tougher than the USDA's. Go to http://www.grandin.com/ and you will see what I mean. This lady is world famous. In fact our working facilities on our ranch were designed by her. There are many reasons why humane slaughter is so important and folks don't have to be concerned about it. The biggest reason may be that the more excited an animal is before it dies (for instance imagine an animal that knows it's being hunted) the worst the eating characteristics of its meat. When our critters are slaughtered they literally will not know what hit them and will not know it was coming. And that's true for what I'd say is over 99% (mistakes happen) of all the many millions of kills made each year here in America. I doubt that there's a hunter alive that could claim a record of humanely and quickly killing critters that could even approach that of a modern slaughter facility.

Another point here. In one of her books Grandin wrote about operating the stun gun in a slaughter plant and killing cattle. To her it approached a religious experience and her concern for quickness and humane treatment was what it was all about.

Another point; even the transporters of cattle are under the gun (so to speak) of the humane treatment guidelines of the USDA. And the packer industry supports the rules because it means they end up with a higher quality product.

We do not brag up our humane treatment because that improperly implies that most others are cruel. That would be deceptive advertising on our part and we do not play that game. Although, you'll find that others do through ignorance or because of their desperate attempt to sell folks with sleight of hand rather than straightforward facts. Click on USDA for its take on humane slaughter. Also check our take on the infamous Chino, California meat plant animal cruelty fiasco. In addition go to our National Disgrace page. And if that's not enough read The War on Modern Agriculture. Thanks for asking the question. It is a good one . . . but it's also a very insulting question to ask any professional cattleman. Think about that for a moment.

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Q: I'm from Austin, Texas and this is my tentative order. Could you give me a ballpark on how much this would cost, and how I go about placing a real order? Thanks so much.

20 lbs. Pet Food

3 packs Edible Dog Bones

2 packs Marrow Bone

2 Rump Roasts

2 Chuck Roasts

10 packs 2-lbs. Ground Beef

5 packs Liver

2 Flank Steaks

5 lbs Baby Back Ribs

A: The cost is the totals of the price per pound times the weight of each item plus shipping. In the Web pages for each type of product (beef, lamb, etc.) there are price lists and product descriptions that include estimates for how many pounds each product may weigh. All meat cuts vary somewhat so we won't know the exact weights until your order is pulled and each piece is weighed and priced and scanned into your shipping box.

This is how you can make your own estimate as you write down your order.

20 lbs Pet Food is 20 x $2.28 = $45.60

3 packs Edible Dog Bones (3 packs are 6 lbs) 6 x $0.88 = $5.28

2 packs Marrow Bone 4 x $0.88 = $3.52

2 Rump Roasts 7 x $5.28 = $36.96

2 Chuck Roasts 8 x $4.38 = $35.04

10 packs 2-lbs. Ground Beef 20 x $4.38 = $87.60

5 packs Liver 5 x $2.98 = $14.90

2 Flank Steaks 2 x $10.48 = $20.96

2 Slabs Baby Back Ribs 6 x $3.48 = $20.88

Total estimated cost for the meat is $270.74 before the 67-pound 4% discount. Since the weight of this order is 78 pounds it earns the 4% discount of $10.83 so the meat costs $259.91.

According to the colored UPS Map of the United States and UPS Zip Code Zone Chart in the Shipping Information section of our Web site you are in the 1-Day Zone 3 area. The Shipping Cost Estimator situated below the map and zone chart indicates your shipping cost may be about 48 cents per pound or about $37.44. The way UPS structures its pricing for short-distance boxes weighing over 70 pounds we'd use two boxes instead of one to minimize your shipping costs.

Total estimated cost for this tentative order is $297.35.

Everything about our pricing and shipping charges are straight forward. We do all we can to minimize your shipping costs and every meat cut is weighed and priced individually. Your tentative order could be a real order or you can modify it. But in either case, if you modify it, you can do the rough calculations yourself and be about as close as we are at providing an estimate. You can place this order by e-mailing us at goodmeat@slanker.com or by calling us on our toll free line at 866-SLANKER (752-6537). For a first time order many times it's easier and quicker to call. But that's up to you.

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Q: I purchased grassfed beef from someone else and the meat tasted terrible. I can usually put up with a terrible taste but this was horrible. My husband and son asked what was wrong with the meat, it tasted terrible. They said do not use that meat again.

I'm so afraid maybe your grassfed meat is terrible tasting. You spend a good price on the meat and it is horrible. Is there a guarantee of money back if the meat tastes bad, not spoiled?

I thought I would e-mail you and ask you if you have a guarantee if the meat tastes terrible.

A: Taste has a lot to do with mental conditioning. Most Americans are conditioned to eat grain, grain-based foods, and grain-fed livestock products and like the stuff. The consequences of this is that the massive imbalance of fats, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients naturally found in grain has destroyed the health of most Americans and today 70% of all deaths in our country are due to chronic disease. For more on this check out "90 Million Americans Can't Be Wrong."

The foundation food for all animal life on the planet is the green leafy plant (on land it's grass and leaves of trees and bushes and in water it's plankton and algae). The balance of essential fatty acids (required for life) in green leafy plants are perfect for all animal bodies including yours and mine. (See the fatty acid profile of our meats at Fatty Acid Analysis.) The balance of fats in grain is devastating to all animal bodies.

Wild fish taste fishy because of their high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids. All grass-fed meats taste fishy, grassy, or gamy because of their high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids. The flavor of Omega-3 fatty acids is foreign to most Americans because they almost never eat any foods containing even minimal amounts of it. This is why they suffer so from chronic disease. You and your family have been eating America's concocted foods for so long you don't have a clue as to how real foods actually taste. Therefore I can guarantee you that over time your family will suffer from one or more chronic diseases like all other Americans. But if you are willing to change, then along with that you must change your lifestyle (real foods are less convenient), your spending habits (real foods cost more), and your judgments for what is good flavors and bad. Unless you and your family members make this commitment to change there's no sense to even think about nutrition. Just continue on eating America's garbage and keep your health insurance paid up.

No, we do not guarantee that you will like the taste of our meats. Some people like them right away. Others learn to acquire a taste for them and afterwards they can't stand the taste of America's concocted foods and grain-fed meats. Others just go on about their lives the same way as always and just resign themselves to obesity, diabetes, cancer, lupus, heart disease, arthritis, allergies, mental disorders, and the list of ailments associated with the Omega-3 fatty acid deficiency goes on and on and on and on and on.

Our Web site's "real food" Condiments section may offer some solutions to help you get over the adjustment hump. Also, we've heard that some folks put a little lemon juice on their grass-fed meats just like they do their fish. Real grass-fed meat eaters just eat the meat because they relish its outstanding real meaty flavor. In fact many of our customers come from foreign countries that do not have grain-fed meats and they buy our meats because to them America's grain-fed meats taste terrible.

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Q: Out of curiosity, why do the people who age beef two weeks to 20 days or more brag about it like it’s a good thing? “XYZ” Beef ranchers have been doing this (raising grass-fed beef) for years and I think they’re one of the ones with 21-day dry aging. With all of their experience, it made me think that was the way to go. Then I read where another major vendor, “ABC” Beef, uses wet aging and talks dry aging down. See? CONFUSION! What do you do and why?

A: The standard for aging beef is not two weeks or even three weeks as many beef people believe. Ninety percent of the tenderness improvement from aging is achieved by day nine. Going beyond that dries out the carcass more than it improves tenderness. Only really fat, super grain-fed critters can be hung longer without excessive shrinkage because of their greater fat cover. From slaughter through processing our meats are aged nine days, then all cuts are frozen and the aging process stops. If you want to age your beef more, you can thaw it out in a refrigerator and wait a few days before cooking it. The aging process takes up where it left off. If you did this, thawed out the packaged meat and left it in the sealed package in the refrigerator, this final process would be called “wet aging.”

Folks who brag up their long aging processes don't have a clue about what they’re doing. There are many dozens of scientific meat studies involving shear force tests, etc., etc. on meats and aging methods and times. We believe our approach best balances overall meat quality from all the scientific work that has been done on it. Also, practical experience has been added to the equation. By the way, another experience factor is that at some point aging can actually get to a deterioration point where the meat can taste rotten! That can happen in less than 21 days. (For more on that click here.)

I can add to this that wet aging involves primal cuts and in some cases the final meat cuts. That means the carcass is broken and the primal cuts (and in some cases the final meat cuts) are packaged in plastic vacuumed packs. There is some weight loss (liquid loss), which is actually about the same as dry aging from this process because instead of a carcass staying together (only split down the center) it is cut up in much smaller pieces creating more places for liquid loss. Aging is a factor of temperature and time. The warmer it is above freezing the faster it ages. The standard temperature for aging meats is 32 degrees. Therefore there is no degradation in the nutrional characteristics of the meats. The net difference between wet aging and dry aging for nine day periods is probably nil.

All beef (and most other meats for that matter) is aged to some degree prior to processing unless it all goes into a grinder the day it is slaughterd and quick frozen. Aging has been with us since man ate the first critter too big to eat at one sitting. It’s a standard function of the entire modern-day meat business so we don’t believe it’s a bragging point. All this “bragging” about aging processes is similar to car manufacturers bragging about their cars have tires.

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Q: I was surprised to find out that in your Best and Worst Foods essay you say coconut oil is bad for the body. Also, many health oriented web sites say Canola oil is poison and coconut oil is good. Please check this out. By the way, I am going to try your beef and pass your site on to my family who wants a good pork product.

A: I have studied the oils and have determined from the findings of reputable nutritional scientists that when it comes to those two oils the reverse of what you say is true. I've also read many of the sites supporting coconut oil (many people bring them to my attention) and they really slant the issues involved. For starters, the fatty acid profile of coconut oil is worse than GRAIN-fed beef! A one-ounce serving of coconut oil has about the same net quantity of Omega-6 over Omega-3 as does a three-ounce serving of grain-fed beef. (Coconut oil contains no Omega-3 Fatty acids, just Omega-6 fatty acids.) In the saturated fat category one-ounce of coconut oil has 24.2 grams of saturated fat versus 5.7 grams in a three-ounce serving of grain-fed beef.

The scary claims about Canola oil being toxic are fabrications and false.

Yes, coconut oil has some positive anti-fungal properties. But I'd rather take those properties in supplement form than use the oil. In this respect coconut oil is like grain. Grain has many positive nutritional attributes. But grain's imbalance of fats makes it a disastrous food for man and beast.

In my opinion a better oil for cooking is macadamia nut oil, which we sell in the condiment section. The best oil for salads is either macadamia oil of fish oils. I do not use Canola oil because it is a heavy does of Omega-6 fatty acids.

I've listed two sites below. The first is using the typical, unverified scare tactics. The second one is using peer-reviewed science. The first is spreading old wives tales, the second is relating proven fact. Also, in the second link we suggest that you proceed on to the link at the bottom of the article that compares corn oil with olive oil. That link also tells the tale about coconut oil. It will be an eye-opener for sure.

http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/canola.htm

Beware of Canola Oil

"Canola oil comes from the rape seed, which is part of the mustard family of plants. Rape is the most toxic of all food-oil plants. Like soy, rape is a weed. Insects will not eat it; it is deadly poisonous! The oil from the rape seed is a hundred times more toxic than soy oil." John Thomas

http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/2325.html

Dear Confused,

Canola oil comes from a hybrid plant developed in Canada during the late 1960s - 1970s using traditional pedigree hybrid propagation techniques (not genetically modified) involving black mustard, leaf mustard, and turnip rapeseed. The original rapeseed plant was high in erucic acid, which is an unpalatable fatty acid having negative health effects in high concentrations. Canola oil contains less than 1% erucic acid. Actually, another name for Canola oil is LEAR (Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed) oil.

http://www.netrition.com/nuts.html

For a complete breakdown of the Nutrient Profiles of Vegetable and Nut Oils this is the best link I've found so far. Drop half way down the page and you'll find a table of Fatty Acid Composition of Various Oils. It tells a beautiful story.

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Q: I hope that you will be able to help me. I am in the process of switching to grass fed beef (and yes, I like the taste). I understand that it has higher CLAs, is rich in omega 3, and is lower in fat and calories. I log my food and have not been able to find basic data for grass fed beef (ie, calories, fat, saturated fat, protein) I realize that every cow is different but I am hoping that you have some numbers or can point me to a site that contains this basic data. My preferred choices in cuts are tenderloin, flank, and rump roast. Any help that you can provide would be deeply appreciated.

A: So, basically the question is: "What is the nutritional information regarding grass-fed beef or all grass-fed meats for that matter?" Well, let's put it this way. The Hunter Gatherer never logged his food. He just ate. The idea of logging food developed with the introduction of grain farming and the concocting of foods. When that happened and man starting eating grain, bodies started failing and man responded by trying to figure out what was wrong. So he sought out vitamins, minerals, and other nutrient supplements as he tried to achieve optimal health.

If you eat like a Hunter Gatherer it makes no sense whatsoever to try to log your food. That's because the diet of man prior to the invention of grain farming provided exactly 100% of his nutrient needs in perfect balance. For millions of years human bodies looked for no more or no less. Today, if you eat concocted foods, there is no way that logging the foods will give you the answers for appropriately calculating exactly what your body is missing, what it's overdosing on, and how to correct the problem. Therefore I believe that man is pretty arrogant if he thinks he can calculate what's required for optimal body function when he's not eating the Hunter Gatherer diet in the first place. There's not one professional nutritional scientist on the planet who believes man knows how to concoct the perfect diet (a concoction of nutrients he measures) other than to just simply eat the foods of the Hunter Gatherer.

And, future food for thought: Grass-fed meat is the only food group you can eat exclusively and still have optimal health. You can not do it with veggies, fruits, or grains. That's because the foundation food for all animal life is the green leaf. If you eat an animal that ate the green leaf you will get all the nutrients (known and unknown) for optimal body function in perfect balance. If you eat improper foods, they will create an imbalance and no amount of perfectly balanced grass-fed meats will be able to correct the imbalances.

For this reason we do not bother to figure out the numbers you request. It is totally unnecessary and will not provide the big picture because there is a far longer list of really important nutrients beyond the few you have asked for. In addition, the balance of essential nutrients is of critical importance. So, unless you know exactly the entire spectrum of nutrients that are required for optimal body function in addition to their appropriate relative weightings, then you will still be in the dark as to what to do with the few parameters you've asked for. So keep the quest for a "perfect" diet simple. Simply eat like a Hunter Gatherer (who always got it right) and forget about trying to figure out something even the best scientists can't possibly fathom.

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