Pesticides in Beef Organ Supplements - What You Need to Know!

With increasing pesticide use worldwide, people are rightly concerned about pesticides in their beef organ supplements.

How Do Pesticides Get Into Beef Organ Supplements?

Pesticides can get into beef organ supplements in three main ways. 

The first is direct spraying on the pastures. Keep in mind that ingredients or supplements labeled grass fed can still be made from cattle grazed on pastures that are sprayed with pesticides. Many pastures are sprayed with pesticides and insecticides to reduce the growth of certain plants and to kill various insects. 

Many people erroneously think that organic means no pesticides. This is not the case for a lot of organic products. Many large corporate-owned farms use a lot of pesticides that are allowed in organic farming, and many of them are pretty toxic. Often, organic pastures are sprayed with pesticides and insecticides to reduce certain plant growth and insect populations. Truly organic farms and real regenerative agriculture don't use the really toxic ones, but that doesn’t stop big agricultural companies from doing so. Because most beef organ supplement companies don’t have a direct relationship with the farms the organs come from, produce their raw materials, or manufacture the finished products, instead outsourcing all of that to unknown third-parties, they don’t know much, if anything at all, about the pastures the animals were grazed on. Just knowing the country of origin does not tell you much either, because there are good and bad farming practices in every country. 

It’s important to know that just because beef organ supplements are labeled grass fed or organic, it does not mean that they are free of pesticides. It is not possible to determine from a product label that the cows were grazed on pesticide-free pastures. 

The next way that pesticides end up in beef organ supplements is spray drift. Spray drift occurs when pesticides are applied to land near pastures, and the spray often drifts onto nearby pastures and farms. This means that even if the cattle are grazed on pastures that are not directly sprayed, if many farms nearby are sprayed, many of the pastures and water used can be contaminated indirectly. Again, in this situation, just because a beef organ supplement is labeled grass fed or organic, it does not mean that it is free of pesticides. 

The third way that pesticides get into beef organ supplements is through feed. While many people believe that products and ingredients labeled grass fed means that the animals are out grazing on lush pastures, this is often not the case. A lot of grass-fed beef and organs come from cattle raised in feedlots and fed alfalfa or grass pellets. Since they are technically fed grass, even though it is in pellet form, they can be labeled as such. This should be illegal, but unfortunately, it’s not. These pellets are often produced on farms with heavy pesticide spraying. There is no way to know from the label of a beef organ supplement that is labeled grass fed, to know whether the cattle were truly raised on pasture or in feedlots being fed pellets.

How Do You Avoid Pesticides In Beef Organ Supplements?

First, it’s important to know that third-party testing is definitely not the answer. This might seem like a crazy statement, but let’s explore why. Many believe, based on an incredible amount of marketing, that third-party testing is the best way to know a supplement is safe. This misguided belief has given people a false sense of security and safety. Unfortunately, there are a lot of problems with third-party testing, which makes it an unreliable way to know if a supplement is safe and properly tested. 

Here are a few examples of the problems:

• Lack of understanding of how to read them.

  • Most people don’t know the correct testing methods or what should be tested for. 

    • Many companies don’t either (or don’t care), and this leads to lots of third-party test results with the wrong testing methods used. This means products may appear to have good test results, but they really don’t because the wrong method was used, and unless someone has a lot of experience with lab testing, they have no way of knowing whether the correct testing method was used.

• Many companies test only one batch and then use third-party testing for all their marketing, with the same results for future batches. 

  • Subsequent batches may be produced with a different source of raw materials or ingredients, so that a single batch test does not mean much.

• Most third-party testing focuses on testing for a couple of things, not everything a particular supplement or ingredient should be tested for. For example, it may be tested for heavy metals or pesticides, but not adulterants, solvents, or other contaminants. This means a product that “passed” third-party testing could be full of problems.

  • This can also include testing for some pesticides, but not the full range of them. This can lead to products being advertised as free of pesticides based on third-party testing, even though they may still contain pesticides that were not tested for.

• Dry labbing is a practice in which companies pay a fake lab to produce test results they want. The products are never tested, but the companies still receive “test results” they can proudly display. Unless you are familiar with the various labs in the industry and how to spot a dry lab, it’s not possible to know if companies are using this terrible practice. 

• Another issue is the use of counterfeit test results, which is becoming an increasingly larger problem with AI. Companies are creating fake test results with AI to make them very realistic and using them as third-party test results. 

• Counterfeit test results are the result of a long-standing practice. Companies take the test results from a similar company or product and replace the names and information on the tests with their own. Editing software makes this very easy.

• Many companies display badges or marketing claiming they are third-party tested, yet don’t conduct any testing at all. They know they won’t get into any trouble and will make a lot of sales by doing it.

This is not a complete list of problems with third-party testing, but it illustrates why relying on something with a host of problems is a terrible idea. We will cover the full breadth and depth of issues with third-party testing of beef organ supplements in a future article. 

The best way to ensure your beef organ supplements are free of pesticides is to know where the animals graze and what they eat. That way, you can investigate if it is an area free of pesticide problems. The country of origin is not enough, as there will be areas without pesticide application and areas with or near pesticide application in every country. Since most companies don’t make their beef organ supplements and don’t have any relationship with the farms, they usually don’t know where the animals were raised, other than the country of origin.

NXGEN Wholefoods gets its beef organs directly from ranches (all of the organs are directly traceable to the farms and the individual animals) in the Lake Eyre River basin region of Australia. This area is very remote and has never been used for farming crops because it is not suitable for growing them. Because the area is so far away from farmland and there are no major farms nearby, there is no spray drift. The cows eat more than twenty-six varieties of wild grasses and plants that grow in the area. They are not given any feed or pellets. By grazing cows in this remote area and not adding any feed to their diet, the farmers ensure that the cattle are not exposed to any pesticides.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYzxAIcJPW4

For more information on this incredible region, check out this blog.

Because of the unprecedented level of sourcing transparency, you can be sure when you take NXGEN Wholefoods Beef Organ supplements that they are free of harmful pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides.