The way of all flesh? 'natural meat' bills itself as the healthy alternative.

For humane, health and environmental reasons, natural meat producers believe their pound of flesh is better than typical supermarket and restaurant fare. "We're talking about sustainable food production and using a lot fewer chemicals," says Mel Coleman, the flamboyant president of the Denver, Colorado-based Coleman Natural Meats, which is a major supplier to natural foods outlets.

While it may bring no solace to ethical vegetarians, "More and more, people are looking for antibiotic-free, hormone-free meat," says Paul Heimel, meat and seafood coordinator for Wild Oats, a natural foods store based in Boulder, Colorado that carries Coleman products. "They'll travel a considerable distance to get it. There is really a big difference in the taste. We're finding that it's the meat of choice."

"We always talk about the hidden cost of food production," says Paul Shaw, assistant general manager at Walnut Acres Organic Farms in Penns Creek, Pennsylvania."There are government subsidies for conventional food production. There's runoff and worker exposure to chemicals, and some debilitating illnesses are directly linked to chemicals. If you add all that together, it makes organic food production look almost like a bargain."

Walnut Acres sells six steaks for $69 through its catalog; a pound of "80 percent lean" ground beef from Coleman costs around $5, compared to regular ground beef which retails for about $2 a pound. The markup reflects the extra labor required to raise feed without chemicals as well as the higher costs incurred by providing the animals with open space.

Above the Law

Organic meat producers claim to - as much as possible - take the cruelty and chemicals out of the meat equation. Cattle, chickens, sheep and turkeys are allowed to free-range and are plumped up to market weight organically - that is, with feed raised without pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers. Cattle are grazed on a rotational basis to give the grass a rest. Instead of being allowed to leach into the water supply, manure is composted, then spread on the fields and tilled in as a natural fertilizer.

These generally accepted guidelines are still subjective as far as the federal government is concerned. In 1990, Congress passed the Organic Food Production Act. Not until 1994, however, were there enough funds to begin carrying out the new standards. Organic meat as a category is still federally unregulated. Farmers and ranchers rely instead on 40 private and state certifiers like the Organic Crop Improvement Association, California Certified Organic Farmers, Farm Verified Organic and the Organic Growers and Buyers Association to prove to consumers that their meat is organic.

"The USDA won't allow the word organic on a meat label," Paul Shaw notes. "You can only do a limited amount of advertising. That's really slowed organic meat production." Lon Hatamiya, administrator of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, says the agency's National Organic Standards Board hopes to have a single law by the end of 1996 that will help the organic meat industry increase its marketing capability. "It's a growing niche market," he says. "It's expanding by leaps and bounds."

Coleman says he grossed $30 million in 1994 and sales are growing by about 15 percent every year. Coleman's meat is sold mostly in health food stores in all 50 states, as well as overseas. At King's Sooper in Boulder, Colorado, however, general manager Gary Peterson says the Maverick Light "natural" meat the store sells is "not as popular as the regular meat." He says sales are minimal compared to conventional meat.

Not everyone sees a future in organic flesh. Billy Lloyd, coordinator of Beef Quality Assurance for the National Cattlemen's Association of Englewood, Colorado, does not agree that organic meat is a trend. "If it were, there would be more companies offering it," he says. "The only positive thing about it is that it might be reaching some customers who would otherwise not buy meat."

As for the hormone debate, Lloyd says, "All meat is going to have some hormones in it. The organic producers sensationalize and make claims that are very flimsy. Not all cattle are administered antibiotics." Paul Shaw maintains that the organic approach is better for animals, people and the environment. "The feedlot operations really tend to stress out animals," he says. "The animals produce hormones. They are more subject to disease, so they need more drugs." Gone are the days when a single medicine would heal ailing animals. "Prior to World War II, penicillin would get a sick calf up the next day," Mel Coleman, Sr. says. "Now you can marinade a calf in penicillin and you can't get him well."

To Eat Meat or Not?

After digesting all this, meat eaters may be less able to stomach the idea of conventional agriculture. "We suggest that if people are going to eat meat and dairy, that they eat certified organic," says Steve Lustgarden, associate director of EarthSave. The California-based environmental organization promotes a vegetarian diet and was started by John Robbins, renegade member of the Robbins ice cream family who renounced his fortune and authored Diet For A New America, an indictment of the meat and dairy industries.

"People who choose to eat organic meat, however," says Lustgarden, "should realize they would be doing themselves and the planet a favor if they chose a veggieburger instead. The logic is simple and compelling: The diet that's the best for you also happens to be the best for the planet. Producing animal products requires a lot of resources."

Mel Coleman, Sr. takes umbrage. "Contrary to the deep vegetarians who say we should plant the land in grain to feed people - you can't plant it all," he says. "They don't know a lot about agriculture. You have to take into consideration climate, precipitation and terrain. It's cold and high in Colorado - we graze the cattle from 8,000 to 11,000 feet." But Lustgarden counters, "Even when it's on marginal land, the results are often overgrazing and erosion."

"Since 1960, we've seen an 800 percent increase in wildlife here," Coleman says. "My goal, if I live long enough, is to get everyone raising cattle this way." Because of people like Coleman, the organic meat industry is growing, though slowly. If more consumers were aware that modern meat is a chemical feast, its market share could increase dramatically.