Grassfed Meat virtually eliminates risk of E-Coli

Cornell University research has determined that grass-fed animals have far fewer E. coli than grain-fed animals.

The small amount that grassfed cattle, has  is much less likely to survive the natural acidity of our digestive tract.  Our first line of defense against infectious diseases, is our digestive tract.

Why is their such a marked difference in the survival of the bacteria?

Feeding grain to cattle makes the cattle’s digestive tracts abnormally acidic. The E. coli in their systems become acclimated to this acid environment, over time. When we ingest the grain fed cattle, a high percentage of bacteria will survive the acid shock of our digestive juices.

Few E. coli from grass-fed cattle will survive our digestive tract, because their bacteria have not become acid-resistant. When cattle are fed their natural diet of grass, our natural defenses are still capable of protecting us.

You should always follow safe-handling recommendations when you prepare meat from grass-fed animals. It takes only a few E. coli bacteria to make us ill. Your risk of becoming infected from grassfed meat is much, much lower than .

Russell, J. B., F. Diez-Gonzalez, and G. N. Jarvis. “Potential Effect of Cattle Diets on the Transmission of Pathogenic Escherichia Coli to Humans” Microbes Infect 2, no. 1 (2000): 45-53. (Chart data extracted from this document.