There is 𝗡𝗢 𝗦𝗨𝗖𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 as 𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗘-𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗠𝗘𝗔𝗧!
𝗦𝗨𝗥𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗘: hormones occur naturally in animals, people, and plants. This means that no matter how your meat is raised, it will STILL HAVE HORMONES.
I know that this may be a little bit confusing considering ’𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦-𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦’ and ‘𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴’ are both terms that are marketed heavily. I would be surprised if you haven’t seen these marketing schemes prior to reading this.
I use the word 𝗦𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗦 for a reason. The way ‘hormone-free’ products are marketed attempts to create a differentiation that does not exist between products. It attempts to promote ‘raised without hormones’ as something special and as a safer product. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗜𝗦, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 ‘raised without the use of hormones’ 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗮 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁.
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲/𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗼?
Hormone implants can be either synthetic or natural. Natural implants include estradiol, progesterone, and/or testosterone. Synthetic hormones, like zeranol and trenbolone, mimic naturally occurring hormones by binding to hormonal binding sites to elicit the same effects.
Hormone pellets are implanted under the skin in the animal’s ear and release the compound into the bloodstream overtime. The ears are always removed at slaughter to ensure the implants are gone!
Implants work by increasing the levels of growth hormone, which increases muscle growth and feed efficiency. This means, an animal will produce MORE MUSCLE and LESS TRIMABLE FAT on LESS FEED.
𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲??
All hormones must follow strict protocols BEFORE going to and AFTER slaughter. Obviously, there will still be naturally occurring hormones present but this is not significantly different between implanted vs non-implanted cattle.
There are certain implants that are specifically designed for a certain gender, stage of production, and age. But despite what was given, the implants are removed before that animal can enter the food supply to ensure no implanted hormones are left in the animal.
Meat is relatively low in hormones compared to other foods. Let’s look at estrogen: 75g’s of implanted beef has 1.9ng of estrogen, 75gs of pork has 2.5ng, 75gs of cabbage has 2025ng, and 1 tbsp of soybean oil has 28,370ng. As you can see, in comparison, implanted meat is relatively low on the spectrum.
Once ingested, the residues of natural hormones are rapidly excreted and have little to no impact on human biology
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁?
Because… SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE. This means less time on feed and less feed/resources are required to finish an animal to the same weight.
Growth promotants and hormone implants allow farmers to produce a COST EFFECTIVE and SAFE product to feed you and your family. These products allow producers to keep costs low so we can continue to keep meat prices affordable.
With less input costs and less time on feed, this reduces the carbon footprint/ environmental impact that raising food has on the world. This is just ONE of the MANY step’s agriculture is taking to mitigate climate change.
With less feed requirement, this reduces the amount of natural resources (land, water, etc.) required to produce a tasty steak!
Note: Absolutely NO poultry (chickens) raised in Canada use any growth promotants or hormone implants.