Born free? Not likely...

Throughout history, the majority of humankind has been omnivores. Of course, with freedom of choice, and with people starting to really question where their food comes from, more and more people are choosing other options. Ethically, it seems veganism or vegetarianism is the way to go. I find myself torn, often, because I know how essential meat is for health and yet I can't condone the way that animals are treated in order to feed humans. So I'm always trying to find the best options for us while still staying ethical.


You have to wonder just how "free-range" some free-range animals actually are. The sad reality is that a lot of the time, even free-range farms don't treat their animals well. We were driving somewhere outside of Johannesburg, heading out towards Naboomspruit, a few weeks back, and we happened to drive past a chicken farm that boasted about being free-range. The thing is, it looked EXACTLY like all chicken farms look. Those same long, low buildings with no windows and not a chicken in sight. The grounds around those buildings were bare and dry and minimal and I had to wonder how it qualified for free-range.

The regulations aren't as stringent as they are for organic food. In fact, it's impossible to find a website listing the requirements for free-range meat and, while organic is far better regulated, buying organic meat or dairy isn't really much better. All it means is that the animals are fed organic grains, but they are often still kept in confined spaces and they sometimes still don't roam free. Feeding animals grains, even organic grains, doesn't make them healthy because they aren't supposed to eat grains anyway. They can't digest them properly. It's not their natural source of food.

South Africans eat a lot of chicken. Around one billion chickens are bred specifically for meat production each year. These chickens are called broiler chickens and they are there literally there JUST to feed our population. 18 million chickens are slaughtered for meat every week and, because of the huge demand for meat, they are usually genetically modified and pumped full of drugs to make them grow faster and bigger. They live for about 6 weeks and, by the time they are slaughtered, they weigh around 1.9kgs. That is far too big for their little legs which results in a lot of them becoming crippled. The abnormal growth rate of the chickens means their organs simply can't keep up, and there are thousands of death losses due to heart failure.

As if that's not bad enough, at least one third of the chickens suffer incredibly painful ammonia burns on their feet because they spend their six-weeks on earth, on faeces-saturated ground. Conditions are chronically overcrowded and, more often than not, their beaks are seared off to prevent them from pecking themselves and each other.

Life is even worse for "battery hens" who are kept in cages no bigger than the size of an A4 piece of paper for their ENTIRE lives. At least 22 million chickens are victims of this type of farming and, unlike Europe, South Africa is nowhere near banning it. 

Can you imagine the stress their little minds and bodies go through? They aren't immune to pain or fear or stress. They understand what's going on even less than YOU would if you were placed in that kind of situation, which only creates more fear. And yet we humans casually treat them as if they are already dead. Sadly, they pretty much are. But we eat them without a second thought about where they have come from or what they've gone through.

Even if you put aside what they are going through emotionally, chickens that have been under considerable stress from the day they were born, are going to get diseases. Living in such cramped, unhealthy conditions spreads disease faster than anything and so they are all pumped full of antibiotics. By the time the meat arrives on your table, it is absolutely toxic.

Humans have distanced themselves so much from where their meat actually comes from that they have found new names for it, in order to keep themselves separate from the fact that the meat comes from an actual animal, who had a very short, very traumatic life. We use words like pork, poultry, beef and mutton. It makes it easier to pretend that it was always just meat, instead of a real, live animal that suffered hugely for the sake of our tummies. And a lot of the time, those tummies could do without a bit of extra meat!

The reality is that there are little to no regulations for free-range farming. Some free-range animals are given antibiotics when sick but they have to stop the medication 5 days before slaughter for it to still be considered free-range. 5 days isn't really a lot of time to get it out of their systems. You can keep chickens in a restricted area and only let them out ONCE in their whole lives and label the meat as free-range. What free-range mostly means, is that the chickens are not caged, in other words, not battery hens, but their quality of life is up to the farmer and, in most cases, the farmer is thinking of money, not quality of life for chickens.

Woolworths defines free-range as animals that have the freedom to roam the outdoors and that are housed in a barn with openings allowing free movement. They also introduced organic meat and dairy and they stipulate that "organic livestock are fed a diet consisting of certified organic feed, accommodated in a free-range manner with free access to the outdoors and treated only with approved homoeopathic remedies.” Sounds a bit better but I'm still concerned about whether the organic feed is grain-based feed or not.

What about grain-fed versus grass-fed beef? Well, grass-fed animals live in open fields rather than, what they call, feedlots.  If an animal is grass-fed” or pasture-raised, it usually means that they were given no antibiotics and hormones and their feed is not made with animal by-products.

Grain-fed animals are raised in feedlots and fed diets specifically designed to fatten them up as quickly and as cheaply as possible. They are fed genetically modified grain and soy. Unfortunately, most South African beef is grain-fed. A cow has an alkaline digestive system which is naturally suited to grass whereas the unnatural corn and soy diet of the grain-fed cow has a terrible affect on the cow’s digestive system, making them ill. That means frequent use of antibiotics is unavoidable. Synthetic growth hormone is given to most grain-fed cows to help them reach slaughter weight faster and to increase their milk supply.

All round, grass-fed and free-range still sounds a lot better to me than the other options. Still, the problem with anything that is mass produced is that it's almost impossible to focus on the animals needs. It's about the money at the end of the day and I still worry that the animals are not treated humanely, even if they are supposedly grass-fed and free-range.

Even if you have no respect for animals, you must have some respect for yourself? And if you do, you know that your health is dependent on the quality of food that you eat. I think it's a no-brainer that you would want to go with free-range and grass-fed animals. Meat, eggs and dairy from these animals:

• Is full of omega 3s which we DO need and less omega 6s, which we DON'T need. 
• Contains 4 times more vitamin E than grain-fed animals.
• Contains more conjugated linoleic acid which has cancer-fighting properties
• Contains more nutrition. The meat is an excellent source of iron, zinc, B-vitamins, beta-carotene, magnesium, potassium and selenium. Grass-fed lamb also has twice as much lutein, an eye-protective antioxidant. Eggs have more vitamin A, vitamin D and some B-vitamins, especially folate and vitamin B12. They contain more lutein and zeaxanthin, two important nutrients that can help your eyes stay healthy
• Have a decreased contamination risk. 
• Is antibiotic and hormone free. Infertility in men and women, as well as PCOS in women are conditions that are caused, and worsened, by eating conventional meat.

So what can we do? We need to ask questions. A lot of retailers don't ask for a thorough authentication programme when they take on a new supplier. This means that many shops probably have unproven product on their shelves. It's really important to check whether your retailer has an authentication programme in place and that their suppliers are externally audited on a regular basis. You also need to ask if their animals are antibiotic and hormone free. Thanks to the consumer protection act, you CAN demand answers and retailers are required to answer honestly. I can tell you now that most, if not ALL, fast food places, are taking the cheapest, cruelest route possible and every time you support them, you condone it.

The power is in your hands. If you aren't happy with the answers, do some homework in your area and find the local farmer's markets. These are becoming more and more commonplace and it's easier to check with the small farms, if they are treating their animals humanely or not.

The only time we buy meat from a grocery store is if we are in a pinch but it's still ALWAYS free-range. The rest of the time I visit the farmer's markets or I order from online suppliers who source humane farmers. I know we all end up going for the cheapest options but, honestly, is the price worth it if you look at all the points above relating to health? And can you live with yourself knowing that this (short video that might be difficult for some to watch) is what is happening? Watching that video was hard, especially the first part, but I have seen so much worse and it just breaks my heart. I will never understand why humans can be so cruel and heartless when it comes to other animals. How did it become the norm?

It's time we started doing something about it and it starts with each individual. It starts with you.

First, do no harm.