What kind of beef comes from pastured cattle fed with organic feed?

Beef from pastured cattle fed with certified organic feed is called organic beef.

The word "organic" describes how the cattle are raised and what they are fed under regulated production standards. In the United States, organic livestock must receive 100 percent organic agricultural feed, apart from limited approved vitamin and mineral supplements. Organic cattle must also have access to pasture and cannot be given growth hormones.

Organic beef is often confused with grass-fed or grass-finished beef. Grass-fed describes an animal’s diet, while organic refers to a broader certification system covering feed, pasture access, medications, and production practices. Organic cattle may eat organic grains as well as forage, so organic beef is not automatically the same thing as grass-finished beef.

The label also does not mean that every cut comes from cattle that grazed exclusively on open grassland, or that the meat is necessarily leaner or more nutritious. It is primarily a regulated method-of-production claim. Terms such as "natural," "pasture-raised," and "grass-fed" have different meanings and should not be treated as interchangeable.