Of course we passed with flying colors!

We didn't know they were doing it, but twice now, the USDA has tested our tamales and burritos for evidence of antibiotic use and growth hormones, and our basic cuts of beef have been tesed frequently to make sure that the claims we make are accurate.

No surprises

Of course the tests have always come back negative, as we never use growth hormones in any of our cattle, and are very careful that any animal in the Diamond F Beef program has never been treated with antibiotics.

We are who we say we are and we do what we say we do (and don't do)!

We know with absolute certainty that any of our meat tested will yield negative results! Our grass fed beef is just that: Grass Fed Beef! Our beef is from steers raised without the use of any added hormones or any antibiotics. They eat only our grass and live their entire lives on our pastures and meadows.

We didn't realize they were randomly selected for testing

But we had no idea that our products were being randomly tested to verify our claims. In all of our researching to learn what was necessary to acquire our USDA approved label with claims of grass fed, no added hormones, and no antibiotics, we never came across the fact that they did these kinds of random tests.

We were visiting with our local USDA inspector to talk about label requirements for a beef jerky product that we are developing, and as we visited he told us about the random tests he's required to do and that a USDA inspector in New Mexico picked up our tamales and burritos for random testing. Who knew? (I guess the USDA did).

I was astounded to find out what he could learn from his examination

It was interesting to talk to him, as he told us how he can detect antibiotic use, since the time of birth, by examining the liver and can also see evidence of disease or ingested toxins . He also can see injection sites and evidence of implants in the hide and on the carcass.

The benefit of eating meat processed at a small facility

Because our processor is so small the inspector has the time and ability to do a complete and thorough examination of all the animals processed under USDA inspection. Our processor has a maximum capacity of 6 cattle in a day, whereas large packing plants process thousands of cattle in a week, and some even process thousands a day. With that many cattle it's impossible to have the level of scrutiny that an inspector can have with six a day.

While you might not trust the USDA and their inspection of cattle in large packing plants, (and I don't), they maintain a very high level of scrutiny and required compliance with us.