Where's The Best Place To Shop For Ethical Meats?

Shopping for ethical meat isn't so straightforward. While many popular chain grocery stores offer decent meat selections these days, labels like "farm-raised," "free-run," and even "USDA organic" don't necessarily mean a whole lot as it pertains to the way animals are raised. According to Jon Urbana, the founder of KOW Steaks, the only way to get your hands on ethically-raised animal protein is to cut out the middle man entirely. "Your best bet is to go straight to the source — small ranches that offer direct-to-consumer shipping. That's how you know exactly where your meat is coming from, how the animals were raised, and what kind of care went into the process," he told Tasting Table.

Our round-up of tips for buying ethical meat at the grocery store includes everything from prioritizing grass-fed and pasture-raised options to being aware of misleading marketing. But, in Urbana's opinion, the best thing you can do for your meat — and the animals that live to produce it — is shop small. "Most large grocery chains rely on commodity beef from big packing houses. If ethical sourcing is a priority, skip the supermarket and go straight to the ranch," said Urbana. But how do you do that? A quick trip to the local farmers market could pull you some leads, or you could ask your butcher directly. Your best bet, however, is to Google "CSAs near me." 

With thousands of small and mid-sized farms across the country, CSAs, or community-supported agricultural systems, have been popular in the U.S. for decades. But, considering the big packing animal agriculture systems that Urbana alludes to being so popular in the grocery store's contribution to modern day issues like the climate crisis and outbreaks of infectious diseases, their popularity is increasing, serving as an alternative source that mitigates both. "Smart" pasture CSAs raise a wide variety of livestock — including pigs, cattle, and sheep — in ways that both minimize pollution and improve the animals' health in particular. You simply pay a membership fee, and your portion of what's raised is delivered to you every week or month. 

But, as mentioned before, they aren't built to feed everybody. Some CSAs, such as Melbourne's Jonai Farms, have built up significant membership waiting lists — with some projected wait times as long as 20 years. Fortunately, there's no better place to go for an alternative recommendation. As Tammi Jonas, one of the owners of Jonai Farms, said in an episode of the podcast, "One Bite," the waiting list is her way of capturing those interested in ethically-raised meat and sending them information on other sources nearby. So, even if your local CSA has a waiting list, go ahead and sign up anyway. That could be your ticket to a membership at another local farm, and a regular, steady supply of its ethically-raised meat.