Two steaks, two stories
Steak twins...sorta
First step was soil.
Second step was plants. 🌱
And now: plants become animals, animals become meat, and meat becomes you.
We're still telling the story of "Fancy Steak," a fictional sirloin traveling soil-to-plate via the industrial farming model.
Below, you'll hear the rest of his odyssey.
Then starting in the next section, we'll put our steak under the microscope for Story #2.
(Missed Part 1 of the story? Catch up here.)
soil➡️plants➡️animals➡️meat➡️YOU
"FANCY STEAK"
(Industrial farming model)
Step 3: ANIMALS
The story of meat travels from soil...to plants...to animals...
Here's the thing about food chains:
When cows eat industrially-farmed grass grown with synthetic fertilizers in "dead" soil, they get plenty of bulk carbohydrates (stored sugars). But because...
💦 ...fast, fertilizer-driven plant growth dilutes the concentration of essential micronutrients (like iron, zinc, and selenium),
🦠 ...a lack of microbial activity and organic matter in dead soil depletes macronutrients (like nitrogen and phosphorus), and
⚗️ ...the disrupted pH of dead soil negatively affects minerals (like calcium, magnesium, and sulphur),
...cows eating industrially-farmed grass (as dried hay, or fresh on pasture) often suffer from subclinical malnutrition.
Not to mention:
🧪 ...residual pesticides, fungicides, and chemical toxins used to treat plants and soil in the industrial farming model get passed on to—and accumulate in—animals' bodies.
More to the story...
🤒 Consequences of malnutrition
(including stunted growth, poor reproductive rates, and weakened immune systems)
🏭 combined with industrial practices
(like confinement & overcrowding, emphasis on efficiency and output, and separation of animals from the land and natural ecosystems)
💉 frequently make necessary the use of
> growth hormones
> routine antibiotics
> synthetic mineral blocks
> dietary supplements
and
> medications.
All of which become part of each animal's story.
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"FANCY STEAK"
(Industrial farming model)
Step 4: MEAT
Industrial meat brine injector (photos from manufacturer's website)
The final step in Fancy Steak's story is the transition from animal...to packaged meat.
In industrial farming, this often involves quite a few chemical treatments, mechanical processes and packaging technologies.
Then, after his long journey, Fancy Steak is loaded onto a truck, shipped many miles, and often frozen and thawed (and even re-cut, repackaged, and/or re-treated with preservatives or colorants) multiple times before appearing for sale.
More to the story...
Here are a few of the chemical treatments, mechanical processes, and packaging technologies used on industrially-farmed meat:
After all of this (from his start in the soil!), Fancy Steak finally arrives at the grocer or on your plate—with his whole story ready to become you.
Highlight reel:
Front and back covers: "A Fancy Meal of Steak and Wine - Industrial Farming Edition" 😉
*
Next up: We'll put our steak under the microscope and track its regenerative soil-to-plate story cover to cover. Join us!
* * *
The food WE raise is great for the planet. It's great for you. And it gives the animals who are raised here a truly great life.
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