Good Meat BreakdownFinding
Authentic Grassfed Certifications
Grassfed Certifications: A Primer for Consumers
Why Grassfed?
For millennia, grazing animals like buffalo, cattle, and sheep were not just food, but land stewards. Their trampling and chomping helped fertilize grasslands, contributing to soil health and biodiversity. By raising livestock, humans could turn inedible grasses into milk, cheese, meat, and countless other foods. This alliance between land, animals, and people was honed by Indigenous populations around the world. But as American agriculture industrialized, most animals were moved into confinement.
Today, raising animals on grass can feel nostalgic, but it's an essential practice for restoring land, fighting climate change, and creating a healthier food system for us all. Individuals and institutions putting their purchase dollars behind Authentic Grassfed products is one of the many levers needed to support a grassfed supply chain.
What is Authentic Grassfed?
Farming in the ways described above isn't simple, and it's a journey. For farmres, ranchers, and brands that raise and sell Authentic Grassfed products, it can be difficult to explain to buyers how their meat and dairy are different. Non-Authentic, non-verified brands that have claimed the label and diluted the marketplace can confuse buyers further. In partnership with leading grassfed certifiers in the U.S., our Grassfed Alliance team developed ten Authentic Grassfed Principles to help buyers understand what practices are core to graasfed and to know what labels to look for. To read more about
Why Certification?
Farmers and ranchers produce Authentic Grassfed meat and dairy for a reason. They see first-hand the benefits to their whole farm/ranch system—their land, their animals, and their communities, and they want to ensure you can trust their claims about those benefits.
Consumers understand the value of 100% grassfed products and are willing to pay a price premium. Utilizing certifications that uphold the Authentic Grassfed Principles demonstrates to consumers and other brands a commitment to sustaining the land, animals, and communities.
If you are a consumer looking for 100% grassfed meat, to ensure your beef comes from cattle grazing only on grass, look for beef marked “100% grassfed.” That helps to guarantee deliciousness, and to know your purchase is helping to nourish the land too.
Here are the certifications* our Grassfed Alliance program recommends:
- Certified Grassfed by A Greener World
- Food Alliance Certified Grassfed
- American Grassfed Association
- Organic Plus Trust
- Certified 100% Grassfed by Pennsylvania Certified Organic
- Regenerative Organic Certification
- Northeast Organic Farming Association
*Certifiers interested in being included among our Authentic Grassfed certifiers, may contact us here.
Looking to learn more about food labels?
Our friends over at FoodPrint have put together a great guide to food labels. You can learn a lot more about certifications and labeling there.