The Grass-Fed Retail Price Tracker: What Grass-Fed Beef Actually Costs at the Grocery Store
Paper No. 7 in the Farm Animal Transparency Grass-Fed Beef Research Series is a living tracker of what grass-fed beef actually costs at retail. Updated weekly from USDA grocery-store feature data, it tracks grass-fed ground beef and steak prices against conventional beef, the premium consumers pay, and what those labels do and don’t guarantee.
The Retail Exemption
A store butcher cuts a subprimal into steaks and prints a label. It carries no establishment number, and no federal rule requires it to. How the FSIS retail store exemption at 9 CFR 303.1(d) erases processor identity — and the one partial fix USDA has applied.
Consumer Behavior and Food Labels: An Integrative Review of the Academic and Scientific Literature with Particular Emphasis on Meat and Seafood
← FAT Research Library 📅 Prepared May 20, 2026 ✍️ Dirk Adams with the assistance of AI ⌛ 43 min read, 2 sources RETAIL LABELS & GROCERS RESEARCH SERIES | RESEARCH PAPER Prepared for publication by Farm Animal Transparency | May 2026 Consumer Behavior and Food Labels: An Integrative Review of the Academic and Scientific Literature with […]
EST Number Placement — The Meat Label Disclosure Gap
Federal regulation requires the USDA establishment number to be prominent, conspicuous, and legible — yet it routinely lands on package seams, glued flaps, and low-contrast back panels. This FAT research paper documents the regulation, the variable-data printing and converter economics that drive off-shield placement, and the modest per-package cost of bringing the label into compliance.
“Natural” and “Family Farm”: Two Label Claims, No Real Definitions
← FAT Research Library 📅 Prepared April 23, 2026 ✍️ Dirk Adams with the assistance of AI ⌛ 22 min read, 2 sources RETAIL LABELS & GROCERS RESEARCH SERIES | RESEARCH PAPER Prepared for publication by Farm Animal Transparency | April 2026 Two Words That Aren’t What They Seem – FAT Research Report Farm Animal Transparency Research […]
USDA Label Claims and Process Verification
← FAT Research Library 📅 Prepared January 12, 2026 🔄 Revised May 2, 2026 ✍️ Dirk Adams with the assistance of AI ⌛ 4 min read, 7 sources RETAIL LABELS & GROCERS RESEARCH SERIES | RESEARCH PAPER Prepared for publication by Farm Animal Transparency | January 2026 USDA Label Claims and Process Verification Prepared on January 12, […]
From Retail Demand to Producer Incentives: Can Origin Labels Bridge the Gap?
Why shoppers’ interest in where beef comes from rarely reaches the price of a calf, and what it takes for U.S. origin to pay at the ranch.
Chilling Chicken: Comparing Water Chilled vs. Air Chilled
← FAT Research Library 📅 Prepared January 7, 2026 🔄 Revised May 2, 2026 ✍️ Dirk Adams with the assistance of AI ⌛ 2 min read, 7 sources RETAIL LABELS & GROCERS RESEARCH SERIES | RESEARCH PAPER Prepared for publication by Farm Animal Transparency | January 2026 Comparison of Water-Chilled vs. Air-Chilled Chicken in U.S. Poultry Production […]
The Case for Mandatory COOL: What Supporters Cite and How Strong It Is
The case for restoring mandatory country of origin labeling for beef and pork: consumer demand, trade law, the post-2015 market and costs, with each claim graded against the evidence.
The Case Against Mandatory COOL: What the Economic Studies Found
What the economic studies found about mandatory COOL for beef and pork, 2009–2015: no measurable demand lift, estimated producer losses, discounted imports and WTO-authorized retaliation.