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
Consumer Behavior and Food Labels: An Integrative Review of the Academic and Scientific Literature with Particular Emphasis on Meat and Seafood Dirk Adams with the assistance of AIConsumer Behavior Research ProgramMay 2026 AbstractFood labels are the primary interface through which credence attributes — qualities consumers cannot verify even after consumption — are communicated at the point […]
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
Two Words That Aren’t What They Seem – FAT Research Report Farm Animal Transparency Research Report Two Words That Aren’t What They Seem How the meat industry uses “Natural” and “Family Farm” to charge premiums for products consumers would not knowingly buy By Dirk Adams, with the assistance of AI Founder & CEO, Farm Animal […]
USDA Label Claims and Process Verification
← FAT Research Library 📅 Prepared January 12, 2026 | 🔄 Revised May 2, 2026 ✍️ Dirk Adams ⌛ 7 min read FAT RESEARCH SERIES USDA Label Claims and Process Verification Prepared on January 12, 2026, by Dirk Adams with assistance of AI. Farm Animal Transparency (FAT Research) Executive Summary U.S. meat labels contain a […]
Farm Animal Transparency: From Retail Demand to Producer Incentives – Can Origin Labels Bridge the Gap?
← FAT Research Library 📅 Prepared January 11, 2026 | 🔄 Revised May 2, 2026 ✍️ Dirk Adams ⌛ 9 min read FAT RESEARCH SERIES — LABELING & COOL From Retail Demand to Producer Incentives – Can Origin Labels Bridge the Gap?
Chilling Chicken: Comparing Water Chilled vs. Air Chilled
← FAT Research Library 🔄 Revised May 2, 2026 ✍️ Dirk Adams ⌛ 7 min read FAT RESEARCH SERIES — POULTRY Comparison of Water-Chilled vs. Air-Chilled Chicken in U.S. Poultry Production Introduction Chilling chicken is a critical step in processing that rapidly lowers carcass temperature to inhibit bacterial growth and ensure food safety. In the […]
Evidence Supporting Reinstatement of COOL for U.S. Beef, Pork, and Chicken
← FAT Research Library 🔄 Revised May 2, 2026 ✍️ Dirk Adams ⌛ 9 min read FAT RESEARCH SERIES — ECONOMIC CONCENTRATION / BEEF Evidence Supporting Reinstatement of COOL for U.S. Beef, Pork, and Chicken Background and Renewed Interest in COOL Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) for meat was first enacted in the 2002 Farm Bill […]
Evidence That Does Not Support COOL
← FAT Research Library 📅 Prepared December 13, 2025 | 🔄 Revised May 2, 2026 ✍️ Dirk Adams ⌛ 9 min read FAT RESEARCH SERIES — LABELING & COOL Evidence That Does Not Support COOL—-Impact of COOL on U.S. Beef, Pork, and Chicken Producer Prices (2000–Present) Background: What Is COOL and Why It Matters Country-of-Origin […]