Question for my Aussie friends

[1Maryann]

Am I correct in assuming all your meat is grass-fed?  Do you know if it is any different for the export market?  I've been buying lamb at my local store that says it is  "Australian born, raised, and harvested" but doesn't address the feed.

 

I know my relatives in Ireland look at me like I'm daft if I ask that question.  They can't even imagine meat that's not grass-fed.  Besides, they don't grow corn there.  But I am not sure that's true in Oz.

[praxisproject]

Some Aussie meat is grain fed, some is even corn fed. The majority is grass fed and grain finished at the end, but much of it is 100% grassfed, they just don't think it's something to brag about. You can usually tell from the fat colour - yellow fat is good, pure white is not. Wheat is very cheap here, so corn fed meats are usually expensive and a bizarre orange-yellow colour (ewww), the corn fed chicken is downright scary looking, some kids refuse to eat it

 

Lamb is most likely to be grassfed, my understanding is that the sheep don't like eating grains much. Aussie lamb is also much younger than American lamb as we define a lamb as being a certain age, after that it's mutton by name. But if you're worried, New Zealand meat is mostly grassfed (wheat is expensive there, but like Ireland NZ has a lot of fresh juicy grass) and King Island Beef (island off the coast of Australia) is 100% grassfed and they know it's something to brag about Your supplier may be able to find out, it just may take awhile. Some meat has a location or origin, or a farm/brand name, which can make it easier (locally I can get organic "Otway" meat, all grassfed).

 

Huge Aussie food thread here: http://forum.whole9life.com/topic/5432-sourcing-food-in-australia/