These findings provide a scientific basis for validating grass-finished beef labels and ensuring that consumers get the expected health benefits.
USA – Michigan State University researchers Jenifer Fenton and Jason Rowntree have uncovered a powerful connection between what cattle eat and the nutritional quality of the beef they produce.
These insights, published in npj Science of Food, could revolutionise the way grass-finished beef is authenticated, marketed, and understood in terms of its health benefits.
Their research, funded by the Greenacres Foundation and supported by MSU AgBioResearch, analysed how different feeds impact the fatty acid profile of grass-finished beef and explored whether those nutritional markers could serve as a tool for verifying cattle diets.
“There’s variation in beef, yet we tend to put it under one umbrella,” said Rowntree, the C.S. Mott Professor of Sustainable Agriculture in MSU’s Department of Animal Science. “I often say beef is healthy, but there’s nuance to it.”
Prior studies have already established that grass-finished beef offers superior health benefits than grain-finished beef, boasting higher omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and a lower omega-6 to omega-3 ratio—an important factor in reducing inflammation and lowering disease risk.
However, Fenton and Rowntree’s latest findings reveal that even within the grass-finished category, significant variation exists based on what cattle are fed beyond fresh forage.
“How you feed the animal can change the omega-6 to omega-3 profile dramatically,” said Fenton, a professor in MSU’s Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition.
Fenton liked this effect to that witnessed in salmon aquaculture. When fed corn and soy, farm-raised salmon contain more omega-6 fatty acids than wild salmon, which contain more omega-3 fatty acids because they’re feeding on small fish that eat algae.
Samples involved four groups of cattle
To better understand these variations, the team examined beef samples from four cattle groups raised at the MSU Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center.
Each group was given a different combination of pasture grazing and supplemental feeds, including hay, baleage, and soybean hulls.
Their analysis successfully predicted cattle diets with accuracies of 100%, 50%, 41%, and 97%, respectively, offering a promising framework for verifying grass-finished claims.
The study pinpointed hay as the most reliable supplemental feed, with Fenton calling it the “gold standard” for maintaining an optimal nutrient profile in grass-finished beef.
While other feeds, such as soybean hulls and baleage, also provided stable options, the research confirmed that some supplemental feeds could significantly alter beef’s nutritional composition.
For producers committed to sustainable and transparent practices, these findings provide a scientific basis for validating grass-finished beef labels and ensuring that consumers get the expected health benefits.
“Our premise is that healthy soils equal healthy land, and healthy land equals healthy plants, animals, and people,” Rowntree said. “Understanding how management influences the nutrients in food is a growing and much-needed area.”
The next research phase will focus on how feeding cattle distillers’ grains affects beef nutrition and investigate the bioactive compounds transferred from diverse pasture ecosystems.
Additionally, Fenton and her colleagues aim to explore the human health impacts of consuming beef with varying nutrient profiles.
“We’d like to work toward taking the grass-finished beef with a nutrient profile favoring human health and then beef from conventionally fed cattle and feeding it to humans to see if there’s data that shows lower inflammatory markers or a more beneficial cholesterol profile between the two,” Fenton explained.
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