'Animal Welfare Approved' Certifies First Restaurant

A restaurant in upstate New York has become the first ever in the U.S. to be certified Animal Welfare Approved (AWA). Grazin', a 1950's-style diner in Hudson, New York, recently re-opened its doors with several important changes that earned it the certification.

All of the restaurant's meat comes from humanely-raised and pasture-fed livestock on family farms. Local sourcing is also important for Grazin'. According to Cool Hunting, "nearly everything comes from farms within an 11-mile radius."

The diner also features burgers from the owners' own nearby farm with pasture-fed Angus cattle.

To earn the Animal Welfare Approved rating, all of a restaurant's "meat, dairy and egg products [must come] from Animal Welfare Approved farms," According to Drovers CattleNetwork.

Farms must be family-owned and raise animals on a pasture or range to be considered for the Animal Welfare Approved certification.

While many other restaurants in the U.S. stock meat and other animal products that are Animal Welfare Approved, Grazin' is the first restaurant to be fully certified. According to AWA, Grazin' was the first restaurant to apply for such a certification.

Grazin' co-owner Dan Gibson said, "For some time now, I have dreamed about opening a truly sustainable restaurant which serves tasty, nutritious meals using only high-welfare, sustainably produced meat and other ingredients."

"We only source our meat, milk and eggs from other Animal Welfare Approved farms who share our concerns about high animal welfare and environmentally friendly farming. And as we only use local suppliers, most of our ingredients will have travelled less than 11 miles from farm to plate, minimizing the carbon footprint of every meal," Gibson added.

The Humane Society of the U.S. describes the normal treatment of many farm animals:

Crated calves are tethered by the neck, pigs in severe confinement bite the metal bars of their crates, and hens get trapped and can even be impaled in their cages. These animals can barely move for months on end. We wouldn't force our pets to live in filthy, cramped cages for their whole lives, and we shouldn't force farm animals to endure such misery, either.

HuffPost's Lynne Peeples reported on the connection between livestock conditions and human health, writing, "Combined with the overuse of antibiotics, tightly penned livestock such as chickens and cows can also play a role in jumpstarting outbreaks (as happened recently with both salmonella and E. coli threats)."

Andrew Gunther, program director for Animal Welfare Approved and HuffPost blogger, wrote, "One of the things I love most about my job ... is that I get to meet people who are literally changing the world from the ground up."

For more information about Grazin', visit the diner's website.

Comments

[feaupaw123]

10:28 PM on 10/27/2011

One thing these articles always leave out is the method in which these animals are slaughtered. I wonder if this restaurant asked that question. I think knowing that is just as important as knowing how they were raised.

[Ossit]

07:36 AM on 10/26/2011

“Well then, you won't mind hearing my opinion Ossit: A society is only as good as how it treats the most helpless among it.”

I've got no problem with your opinion, flowereater. I have a problem when you don't acknowledge others' opinions that oppose yours.

[Pandoras Folly]

03:37 PM on 10/25/2011

but the Pain...the torture...the fear......thats what makes my steaks so tasty.

/sarcasm

[DavidMG]

09:31 AM on 10/25/2011

To find other health oriented and veg eateries check out my guide Heathy Hughways.

[frank day]

09:50 PM on 10/25/2011

Why?
You're posts have not impressed.

[honeybear64]

03:52 PM on 10/26/2011

Exactly. Unless someone considers unremitting spam in an attempt to sell books to be impressive LOL.

[HazelPethigFan]

11:58 AM on 10/24/2011

This is just expensive schtick.

What happens when "free range" animals huddle together in sheds and barns during the winter eating non-pasture feeds and silage?. Does that violate the rules? Who make a ruling?

Are there meat cops out there ready to shut down a Minnesota farmer when the cattle are huddling together for warmth in a shed at -15?

I have the title a new reality show: "Meat Cops: Midwest Edition"

[Pandoras Folly]

03:31 PM on 10/25/2011

actually yeah meat cops are part of the bargin. they can drop by pretty much any time druing normal business hours and inspect your farm for failure to comply. You don't comply you loose your approval. that simple

[nohopepope2187]

08:37 AM on 10/24/2011

Noble, not not cost effective. The rules are changing with a servery heightened population.

[Pandoras Folly]

03:32 PM on 10/25/2011

vat grown meat will take care of that problem. just waiting on the engineering of it to scale the meat up.

[HarmonySliced]

10:01 PM on 10/25/2011

Ha, but how many people will touch that stuff?

[Ken Koziol]

08:28 AM on 10/24/2011

And how much more are we going to pay for this?
I once bought free range chicken, it cost twice as much and did not taste any different.

[spydrworks1067]

06:40 AM on 10/24/2011

I wish those who push vegan diets would educate themselves in general biology. Vegan diets kill people. How? We cannot digest plants. Try going on a vegan diet without vitamin and mineral supplements. It would lead to malnutrition and eventually death. A human fetus cannot develop without it, so human life from the start is doomed without meat protein.

What this restaurant is doing is exactly the kind of approach we should take when it comes to healthy food to eat. A healthy animal produces healthy food. When an animal is crammed raised in filth and disease, it is not healthy and thus the food it produces is not healthy.

[Debbie338]

02:17 PM on 10/24/2011

Boy, your "facts" are so wrong, you don't even know how wrong you are. You apparently know almost nothing about human physiology. To say that humans cannot digest plants is to be completely ignorant of how our digestive systems work. We are truly omnivores, and can get all the nutrients we need from plant sources. Granted, you have to work at it, but it can be done and done well.

[Pandoras Folly]

03:34 PM on 10/25/2011

yeap gotta agree with Debbie there. it perfectly possible to go without any meat of any kind. A friend of my old roommate didn't eat any vegetable cooked, only raw food and he was extremely healthy.

[row83an]

06:27 AM on 10/24/2011

I am a member of peta , love animals , but they (peta) go overboard , man needs meat to eat ..I also eat soy stuff , some is tasty , but after having cancer , my doctor told me to lay off soy , cancer loves soy and thrives on it.if you were brought up on meat , don`t go all vegan , keep some good meat in diet , chicken , fish , yes , lots of clean fish , shellfish not so clean , fins and scales are clean fish , and lean beef ...lots of vegetables , greener the better..

[scotttimscott09]

04:37 AM on 10/24/2011

The thing I can't understand is that while these animals are claimed to have been "humanely-raised" and fed, why are they then slaughtered for food? Sounds like an oxymoron to me.

[spydrworks1067]

06:09 AM on 10/24/2011

"Why are they slaughtered for food?"

Are you serious?

We are genetically reliant to eat meat for proper biological development and functioning.

[Debbie338]

02:19 PM on 10/24/2011

There you go again. Time to go back to school and take Human Physiology 101.

[sabelmouse]

06:33 AM on 10/24/2011

would you rather they were tortured ? we need meat.

[flowereater]

06:12 AM on 10/25/2011

Hi Sabel,

I think there are levels of torture. I would much rather see advancements than none. Happy grazing animals are much better, but I still don't like the slaughtering part. If the death is immediate, that is a thousand times better than being skinned alive, which happens in overcrowded slaughterhouses that process 3 or more cows per minute, which I find extremely repulsive.

[Bart Townsend]

04:00 AM on 10/24/2011

I eat meat that I shoot myself with a 30.06 it taste great. I dunno about humane, but deer are darn tasty if you ask me. Animals are meant to be food for humans and what type of killing is humane do they lethally inject the cows? I think I'd rather be running free in the woods and blammo I am now lunch.

[flowereater]

06:23 AM on 10/25/2011

So, since humans are animals, what does that mean for us???

[GrabBagMind]

02:53 AM on 10/24/2011

I am not clear why this attempt to reduce the suffering of animals eaten for food could possibly be seen as a bad thing. I also don’t understand the disconnect between the way we view food animals and our pets. If someone had their pet treated the way a meat cow is treated in the raising and the slaughtering they’d be going bonkers. Don’t cattle feel pain too?

[journ student]

12:47 PM on 10/24/2011

I'm not either. People like meat. Guilt-tripping them and going all holier-than-thou on them doesn't work and if anything only makes them dig in deeper. That's what these self-righteous types can't get through their heads. Better to work along a spectrum that encourages humanely sourced meat or eating *less* meat, and screaming at them to just quit it cold turkey. On the other hand, the people saying, "They're just meat animals, who cares how they're treated?" are wrong, too.

[flowereater]

06:19 AM on 10/25/2011

I don't see too many people guilt tripping or acting "hollier than thou," which is a horse that has been beaten to death (pun intended). Change is always hard. If one can feel guilt-tripped, perhaps there is a reason.

[Debbie338]

02:21 PM on 10/24/2011

I'm with you. But, anytime anyone wants to change anything, this is what happens. It is in our nature to resist change, so we justify the status quo however we can.

[SalesmanForLife]

12:34 AM on 10/24/2011

I support this kind of thinking but getting a certification is a bit like all the legistlators signing pledges, I mean, come on. I live in 2 states and when in vt. we eat local to support the local farmers when, honestly, several families cannot afford those local meats and rely on the big meat producers but that is another subject. We are lucky that our valley has locally farm raised beef, pork, chicken, lamb and more for those of us who buy it and the standards to process these animals are very very rigid and on the state as well as local level to meet localvore standards.

[HazelPethigFan]

11:26 PM on 10/23/2011

I love watching the meat police trying to justify eating meat the politically correct way and anti-meat people crying foul (so to speak).

High-larious. I think they are both wack y.

I love the 5+ step politically correct rating system for meat now in place at whole foods. They go from level 1 meat to level two meat (better) if pigs are given a bowling ball to play with. I am not kidding..it's actually written this way:
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/meat/welfare.php

[nohopepope2187]

08:50 AM on 10/24/2011

It may seem trivial to you, but when you think about it, it's pretty legitimate.

I'm not tree-hugger or even a vegetarian for that matter, but I do believe that animals should be given the dignity of a 'fair' life, however short it may be.

Keep in mind that the ecosystem evolved s that plants and animals keep each other in check. With the rise of the human population, the rules are changing and this is starting to no longer apply. Just because we need animals for food doesn't mean that is their only purpose in life.

I think it's the least we can do to let a pig pay with a bowling ball in return for taking it's life.

[Pandoras Folly]

03:39 PM on 10/25/2011

one must respect that which gives its life to feed you, for one day you will feed its children.

[MyResponsibility]

11:13 PM on 10/23/2011

Although I am an avid meat eater, I fully understand that I am eating an animal that, regardless of how they lived, when they were harvested, they were actually slaughtered. I can't quite figure out how that part passes the animal welfare certification process?