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"Climate-friendly" beef could land in a meat aisle near you. Don’t fall for it. | Tyson Foods and the federal government refuse to show their math for a new sustainability label. (www.vox.com)

submitted 1 year ago by usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml to c/green@lemmy.ml

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[–] chaogomu@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is this that thing where the ranchers feed their cows some percentage of died seaweed to cut down on the methane emissions?

Because that's a thing.

It's better for the climate than not doing that, but still not as good as, you know, actually looking at overall beef production with a critical eye and maybe cutting back a bit.

This video spills the secrets of how to make believable chicken (and beef) flavors from plant products. We've known how to do this since the 60s.

We could replace all ground meat with plant products and the only thing missing would be the texture, and companies are actively working on that.

[–] usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 year ago

Feed additives are not mentioned in the article, but it's also worth noting how greatly misleading the claims you see about those are

What’s more, feeding cattle algae is really only practical where it’s least needed: on feedlots. This is where most cattle are crowded in the final months of their 1.5- to 2-year lives to rapidly put on weight before slaughter. There, algae feed additives can be churned into the cows’ grain and soy feed. But on feedlots, cattle already belch less methane—only 11 percent of their lifetime output

[...]

Unfortunately, adding the algae to diets on the pasture, where it’s most needed, isn’t a feasible option either. Out on grazing lands, it’s difficult to get cows to eat additives because they don’t like the taste of red algae unless it’s diluted into feed. And even if we did find ways to sneak algae in somehow, there’s a good chance their gut microbes would adapt and adjust, bringing their belches’ methane right back to high levels.

[...]

All told, if we accept the most promising claims of the algae boosters, we’re talking about an 80 percent reduction of methane among only 11 percent of all burps—roughly an 8.8 percent reduction total

https://www.wired.com/story/carbon-neutral-cows-algae/