There's No Such Thing As Hormone Free

Hormone meat pulled off shelves


• Wendy Hargreaves
• From: Sunday Herald Sun, Austrailia
• December 26, 2010 12:00AM


It is an Australian first that has sent shock waves through the meat industry.

Industry experts predict higher beef prices as more customers demand hormone-free meat, which makes up about half of all beef sold in Australia.

Farmers have used hormone growth promotants (HGPs) to speed up muscle growth in cattle for more than 30 years, backed by rigorous safety approval from health authorities.

But in a survey of 1000 people by Meat and Livestock Australia, leaked to the Sunday Herald Sun, almost half said they would consume less meat if it had added hormones, while 16 per cent would "never touch it again" and 15 per cent would "actively warn others".

Without the HGPs, industry experts said another two million head of cattle would be needed to make up a shortfall in meat, creating environmental problems.    Read More

The most common question we get as we talk to consumers is about hormones. Most media stories, like this one, fail to give readers all of the information they need in order to make a sound decision. All food has hormones in it. Both animal and plant-based foods contain hormones. Hormones are the chemical messengers that life depends on. Many plants actually contain higher levels of hormones than meat does. There is no such thing as hormone free food.



The difference in hormone levels from a 3 ounce piece of beef treated with a growth hormone versus one that wasn’t is one-half of a nanogram. That’s one-half of one-billionth of a gram. Compare that to the amount of estrogen in a birth control pill, which is in the neighborhood of 34,000 nanograms. You would have to eat nearly 5 million pounds of beef to equal the amount of hormones in a year’s supply of birth control pill.


It’s essential that we put things in context when we are having discussions like these.

No such thing as hormone free

Lifeway Foods Switches to 100% Certified Hormone Free Milk
Wednesday, June 11, 2008; Posted: 06:00 PM

MORTON GROVE, Ill., June 11, 2008

Lifeway Foods, Inc., makers of the nutritious, probiotic dairy beverage called kefir, announced today that they are now using milk that comes from cows not treated with hormones. This 100% certified hormone free milk comes with a Farmers Pledge, which Lifeway will market on the labels of its products. This change came as a response to a growing demand for hormone and antibiotic milk by customers. Read More

Here we go again with the claim of hormone free milk. There is no such thing. Milk comes from a cow which produces hormones. Hormones are essential to life on this planet. Plants and animals rely on hormones for their very survival. To say that this milk is 100% hormone free is completely untrue.

Restaurant to be Hormone Free

Pollo Tropical drops hormones from Florida restaurants

South Florida Business Journal - by Alexis Muellner

Pollo Tropical Restaurants said it has made changes to ingredients in products it serves in Florida.

The company boasts that its entire menu is now "hormone free."
Miami-based Pollo Tropical serves a range of grilled fare with a Latino theme. The company sells a signature marinated chicken item, as well as roast pork, ribs, grilled shrimp and steak.

"Hormone free" means the animal was not given or subjected to artificial hormones, the company said. Read More

He we go again. Now it’s a “hormone free” restaurant. Unless they are only serving sunshine and scenery, there are hormones in the food they are serving. And the worst part is their definition of hormone free, they say it means none of the animals were given artificial hormones, but that is a long ways from being hormone free. Every bit of food they serve there will have hormones in it. Hormones are one of the reasons that life exists on this plant. They are the biological messages that the body uses to control almost everything is has to accomplish. Because of that, regardless of how the animal was raised, there will be hormones in it. Most of the hormones in a meal that will be served at this restaurant will be from the vegetables. A 3 oz serving of cabbage will have over 1000 times as mush estrogen in it as a 3 oz serving of beef from an animal that has been treated with a growth hormone.