Animal Welfare

Animal welfare is about the protection of the health, rights and well-being of each animal. This aspect of cattle farming has increased significantly in the past decades. There are ethical reasons for this; however it also affects the flavour of the steaks.

Basis of high quality: Free range cattle rearing

During the whole process of rearing the cattle, the animal welfare guidelines need to be kept. This means that the breeding of cattle should be as natural as possible. Experts agree on this. The fact that this massively increases the flavour of the beef, is commonly underestimated. This relates to the biochemical processes achieved in the bovine body by avoiding its distress. The muscle cells of freshly butchered beef continue to work for some time, as the important energy conductors adenosintriphospate (ATP) and the polysaccharide glycogen are broken down. In this process the milk acids gather in the body’s cells, which has an effect on the PH value of the meat. This is important for the intensiveness and consistency of flavour of the final steak.

If the bovine has experienced distress or fear, the PH valuedoes not dismantle correctly and the meat becomes more perishable. Therefore there is a direct relevance between ethically correct maintenance of animals and the subsequent steak quality.

Lunch at MAREDO: Freedom of movement is a part of it

“MAREDO has known this for a long time. The principles of animal welfare are therefore firmly integrated in cattle breeding”, states MAREDOs meat expert Martin Ostermeier. This also requires that sufficient roaming and movement in the South American Pampa will prevent distress. Each animal has a surface of 1.5 football fields to move in. This is only possible due to the enormous size of the pasture in Argentina and Uruguay. “The foundation of a first class steak is ethically correct cattle rearing,” Ostermeier explains.

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