The cost of better school lunch meat: yikes!
January 4, 2009
Food and Drink Examiner Eric Burkett sends this astonishing report from the school lunch front. The school system in Portland, Oregon asked Oregon State University to conduct a taste test to find out whether kids preferred local grass-fed beef to grain-fed beef of unknown origin. Results? The kids could tell the difference but were evenly split on preference.
BUT–the cost difference! Grain-fed beef = $17.11 per case (140 patties per case). Grass-fed beef = $44.85 a case (75 patties per case). If the weights were the same, this means the grain-fed = 12.2 cents per patty vs. 59.8 cents each for the grass fed. Is this really true?
If so, I can’t think of a better reason for some new farm policies.
Price differential does not surprise me in the least. We are talking about the difference between hand-raised, small-farm product and large-scale industrial beef, plus the difference in feed costs and land costs (I would suspect it difficult to grass-feed caged animals), and agricultural subsidies.
Other factors include both the base cuts of meat used to form the patties, and the percentage of fat in each patty. At the local supermarket, there is approximately a 3:1 price differential between 93% lean ground beef in one-pound packages and 80% lean ground beef in three-pound packages (conventional beef). There is another 25% premium for pre-formed patties and another 25% premium for “organic” (”Laura’s” brand) ground beef.
It is difficult to compare prices between local-supermarket ground beef and the generic “organic” ground beef sold at Whole Foods, etc., since (except sometimes for ground chuck) the supermarket does not indicate cut used for the product, and Whole Foods bases prices on initial cut of beef used with no information on trim or fat-percentage of finished product.
Comment by tmana — January 4, 2009 @ 12:40 pm
It depends on the demand for that region. Here’s the price for 100% grass beef in the SF Bay Area:
http://www.marinsunfarms.com/prices_beef.html
Comment by Foodaroo — January 4, 2009 @ 12:43 pm
At the risk of stirring up a tempest, do we really need much beef in the school lunch? I use other protein sources at home, could these be used cost-effectively at school? I don’t kow how the costs break out for huge bulk purchases like school systems.
Comment by Sheila — January 4, 2009 @ 7:13 pm
Health-wise, we do NOT need that much beef in the school lunch program.
It’s just unfortunate that this is what our schools have to buy for protein sources because it happens to be the cheapest. In the interest of full disclosure — my family is vegetarian and so my two kids take lunch to school. Other protein sources should be looked into. We should be teaching kids about variety and the good and bad with each type of food (I’m trying to stay neutral here *wink*).
Comment by S Yanoff — January 4, 2009 @ 8:06 pm
A story in the Denver Post last year made a case for higher-priced beef, if not strictly grass-fed. Colorado Springs schools began serving “better” beef and the spike in school lunch sales made up for the higher cost. Certainly not arguing that we don’t need a change in food policy, just thought it might be of interest on this topic.
On another note, thank you for your blog. I enjoy reading it.
Comment by laura — January 5, 2009 @ 12:17 pm
If my shopping experience is any indication, grass-fed beef is definitely that expensive. I agree that instead schools could look into alternate protein sources. How about only 1 meal with beef per week? Then they could afford grass-fed.
Comment by Michelle @ What Does Your Body Good? — January 5, 2009 @ 2:53 pm
It’s pretty sickening that we feed our cattle anything BUT grass…but I suppose most Amercians eat things that aren’t really foods they should consume either. At least we are making choices in the process.
I am sure the amount of beef could be severely scaled back. Kids don’t need to be eating hamburgers for lunch every day. That’s for sure.
That said, I really hope that an alternative source wouldn’t then just leave us feeding SOY to our kids. That would be a real shame. Just another over-produced farm by-product we turn into something we over eat.
Our kids may as well be the cattle at that point.
Comment by Diane — January 6, 2009 @ 3:58 am
I agree with the
Comment by S Yanoff — January 4, 2009 @ 8:06 pm
Why would they want to replace subsidized meat for another meat? What about some plant-based meal options?
offer a daily option for all students (and staff)
check this out:
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/vegan_school_lunch_options
Comment by Daniel Ithaca, NY — January 6, 2009 @ 10:32 pm