What are Free Range Meats?

Anytime you have overcrowded, unsanitary conditions, it is a breeding ground for bacteria. Viruses also are easily spread in these conditions.

In a pasture, where air is freely flowing and the animals are not in close contact, the risk of the breeding and transmission of disease greatly decreases. I am in the medical field and this is basic knowledge when applying it to humans. For animals there is no difference. Consumers need to seek education and not believe what we are fed by the media which is directed by large corporations and policymakers who have a financial stake in what we eat.

We need to know what we introduce into our bodies and be active participants in maintaining our own health.

@ Chicada- You have been fed some serious disinformation my friend. Regardless of your feelings towards the animals that you eat, you are more likely to get sick form a factory farmed animal than a free-range animal.

Rodents and harmful bacteria from decaying animals and feces can more easily infect animals locked in a confined pen with poor ventilation than an animal that is on the open range. Furthermore, sick animals will naturally isolate themselves form the herd, or the herd will isolate themselves from the sick animal. Where does a cow with mad cow disease go in a pen with a thousand other cows? How do you spot the one downer cow in a thousand in a timely manner? When one chicken with bird flu is trapped in a barn with 5,000 other chickens, what happens?

@ Fiorite- Free-range beef cattle and chickens are more likely to be contaminated by outside disease into the herd or flock. Animals can infiltrate the ranchers stocks and infect them with wild diseases. Factory farmed animals aren't treated the best, but I am not so concerned with the way my food is treated. They are all killed in the end, and I would rather worry about my and my family's health than the happiness of a cow or chicken.

Free-range animals are less likely to catch diseases. In fact, they are less likely to catch diseases. This is simply a myth made up by the factory farm industry to try and scare consumers away from buying free-range meats. Factory farmed animals live in such confined spaces that they often acquire disease before they can be culled from the herd or flock. In addition, the stress of confinement has a negative impact on the immune system of the animals. This is why these animals need antibiotics.

Free range animals can be isolated form the herd before an outbreak occurs whereas confined animals are often not discovered to be sick until they are dying or dead on the floor of their pen, already affecting the herd. I grew up in farm country, and I never saw a downer cow that lived in a field, but go to a factory farm and they are having people in hazmat suits haul away downer cows twice a week. These diseased and dead animals are simply left on the edge of the farm to rot in the sun until someone hauls them away. I think I will keep eating my free-range meats, taking my chances with the "risk".