Keepin' it natural: Urgent action on meat labels

On a recent trip to the grocery store, a friend of mine living in the Midwest decided to put in a plug for grass-fed beef. They won't supply it if we don't ask for it, right? She approached the man behind the meat counter and asked if they carried it. With a completely straight face, he responded: "Grass-fed? Honey, I don't think cows can eat grass. It hurts their stomachs. Cows eat corn. We have lots of good Iowa corn-fed beef here!"

We probably don't need another reminder of just how far our meat production system has roamed from what's natural. The scary thing is that as a society, we're getting used to it — to the point where we no longer know what a naturally-raised animal is supposed to look like.

Unless we act before March 3, the USDA is about to make this confusion even worse.