Depending on how the livestock was raised there may be significant differences between organic and nonorganic meat production. To begin with, according to the USDA's National Organic Program (the agency that creates rules for organic production), there is an absolute ban on the feeding of mammalian and poultry slaughter by-products to organic mammals and poultry. This contrasts with nonorganic regulations that still allow the feeding of certain slaughter by-products to cattle and other livestock.
The FDA banned the feeding of cattle brain and spinal tissue to cattle in 1997 and has publicly stated that they will ban blood, poultry litter, and human food wastes, but still allow the following materials to be fed to non-organic cattle:
• Gelatin (rendered from the hooves of cattle and other species).
• Fats, oils, grease, and tallow (from cattle and other species).
• Poultry and poultry by-products.
• Rendered pork protein.
• Rendered horse protein.
None of the items listed above may be fed to certified organic cattle or other organic livestock.
