At the Taibei Earth Day Market event there was one cooperative group trying to get people to avoid U.S. beef, because of the unnatural way they are raised. As Tigerman mentioned long ago in this thread, there are the hormones, appetite stimulants, the crowded conditions necessitating excessive use of antibiotics, etc… Members of this coop talked about how beef cattle in the U.S. are being fed unnatural substances too, like meat and bone meal, which causes mad cow disease.
The coop members said that most Australian beef is range-fed and thusis free of mad-cow disease.
(The group sells eco-friendly products like recycled paper, certified organic Australian beef (free range, grass-fed), including ground, and so on, but purchasing these requires that you become a cooperative member, which includes a one-time membership fee of NT$2000 and mandatory attendance at a one-hour lecture.)
Does anyone actually know what percentage of Aussie beef is free-range, grass-fed stuff?
May 3 edit: Jason’s has organic Aussie beef, at about double the cost of the regular Aussie beef, just FYI.