Frequently Asked Questions

EnviroBeef - Climate Health and Omega-3s

How do cattle growers  make EnviroBeef?

EnviroBeef – delicious steaks and ground beef -  is produced from cattle which are fed two ingredients as supplements: 1) a seaweed containing a chemical which prevents the formation of methane in their stomachs, so they don’t burp climate changing methane, and 2) a microalgae containing high levels of omega-3s and which produce enriched levels of the omega-3s in the beef.

What is microalgae?

Microalgae is a microscopic marine plant floating in the ocean. It has no roots, and drifts with the tides, consuming CO2 and releasing oxygen to replenish 50% of the earth’s oxygen supply daily. While you cannot see the individual plants without a microscope, microalgae may make the water look green. There are 50,000 varieties of microalgae ….. we have found one, Schizochytrium, that works well in the stomachs of cattle, and releases the omega-3s in the cattle’s small intestines, where they are absorbed into the cattle’s bloodstream and deposited in their muscles.

What kind of seaweed do you use?

A certain species of seaweed, Asparagopsis, which normally clings to the rocks in the sea, and looks like spears of asparagopsis, naturally contains the chemical bromoform, which prevents the combination of carbon and hydrogen to make methane (CH4) in the cattle’s stomach. Hence the cattle don’t burp methane, which otherwise contributes to climate change.

How are the supplemental feeds produced?

The seaweed, naturally occurring in the ocean, is grown commercially either in the ocean or in tanks onshore.  The microalgae, also naturally occurring in the ocean, is grown onshore in large tanks.

Why is EnviroBeef healthier than other beef?

EnviroBeef is more nutritious because it is elevated in DHA and EPA, like fish. In fact, ocean fish contain omega-3s from eating smaller fish which have eaten the same microalgae, which we use, naturally growing in the ocean. Although EnviroBeef still has some saturated fats like all beef, DHA and EPA produce blood chemistry which counteracts the unhealthy aspects of the saturated fat.

I see other products labeled high in omega-3s … are they all healthy?

There are a lot of products that say they are high in omega-3s. Most of them are high in the relatively less valuable omega-3 ALA. Meat or eggs that are high in ALA have been produced by feeding the animals flax seed or flax oil. This is not bad, but it’s not the most beneficial type of omega-3.

Why is the omega-3 ALA not as beneficial to humans as omega 3 DHA and EPA?

The omega 3 ALA has very limited direct use in the human body. It’s more important use is what your body converts it into.  Only about 6% of the ALA you eat from flax,walnuts, soybeans or canola oil (or from animals that have eaten flax seed) is converted in your body into the omega-3s DHA and EPA, which are more bioactive than ALA. That makes it challenging to eat enough ALA to yield the amounts of DHA and EPA that produce significant health benefits. EnviroBeef has about 180mg  of DHA plus EPA per 8 oz. serving. To get that much from ALA, you would need to eat 3,000 mg of ALA, an amount which is more than 50% above the adequate intake value for ALA of 1,600 mg. The amount of ALA in servings of commonly consumed products ranges from about 30 mg – 1,400 mg.

What products other than fish contain EPA and or DHA?

Eggs from chickens that have been fed the same marine plant which we use — have elevated DHA (about 100mg. per serving). One milk producer injects DHA from oil (derived from the same plant we use) into the milk. A glass of the product contains 32mg of DHA. Some baby foods have EPA and or DHA from algae oil. These products are all labeled as maintaining healthy eyes, brain, and heart. All these are good. Some other products, such as baby food and peanut butter, have high EPA and DHA from fish oil.

I read that fish containing high omega-3s DHA and EPA are definitely healthy, but taking fish oil pills may not be healthful … what’s going on?

An observational study from Harvard by Mozaffarian and colleagues, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3698844/, reported that greatest consumption of total n-3 (omega-3) fatty acids from fish (as estimated by blood phospholipid total n-3 fatty acids) was associated with lower total mortality mainly due to fewer cardiovascular death.The highest consumption of EPA+DHA (estimated to be greater than 2 g/d) was correlated with increased life expectancy by 2.2 years when compared to lowest consumption. However, clinical studies of people taking fish oil capsules in commonly over the counter supplements, show mixed results …. or no beneficial effect often due to the fact that these studies are conducted using people that have been diagnosed with heart disease or are not long enough to test results generated from observational studies. That said, some studies show consuming omega-3 supplements in very large, medically prescribed amounts prevents second heart attacks in persons having suffered a first one and may prevent a heart attack in persons with severe medical conditions making them prone to a heart attack.  In addition, omega-3 supplements tend to show favorable benefit towards decreasing biomarkers associated with risk of heart disease.

Since all the fatty acids from the microalage get into the fish food chain naturally, our ingredient using the same marine plant provides all these necessary fatty acids to the cattle. The resulting EnviroBeef has the same additional healthy omega-3 fatty acids that are in fish.

If there can be mercury in ocean fish from their eating microalgae, can there be mercury in EnviroBeef?

No, the microalgae for EnviroBeef is grown in water on land in large tanks and does not contain the mercury pollution which is in seawater. Microalgae in the ocean can collect mercury from the pollution in the ocean from runoff. When fish eat ocean algae containing mercury, they retain it. EnviroBeef buys microalgae produced from pure water in tanks on land, and hence it will have no mercury.

Is the algae ingredient fed to your cattle natural?

Yes, our microalgae is a naturally occurring algae found in the ocean, and it is fed all natural products in land-based water tanks.  It is not a GMO. The seaweed is also a natural marine plant.

Will I be able to buy grass-fed EnviroBeef?

Yes, feeding our seaweed and microalgae ingredients to cattle in their natural pasture works very well to produce grassfed and organic beef.

Will you supply the anti-methane seaweed to cattle before they go to the feedyard?

We will also supply the anti-methane seaweed to managers of cattle in the pasture (called stockers) when the cattle grow for about 400 days after they are weaned and before they go the feedyard, if they are to become grain fed cattle. This way the burping of methane is suppresses for the entire time cattle would otherwise burp methane.

How about grassfed and organic cattle?

The antimethane seaweed will be brought to the cattle on grass pasture after they are weaned until slaughter. The omega-3 microalage will be fed to grassfed cattle in the pasture for the last 60 days until slaughter.

Can you guarantee that EnviroBeef contains the high levels of omega-3s?

We can guarantee that EnviroBeef contains increased amounts of omega-3s DHA and EPA. Our protocols will specify how much to feed and for how long (about 60 days). A double quarter pound burger, or an 8 oz. serving of EnviroBeef steak , as tested at Oklahoma State University, have amounts of omega-3s like a meal of halibut or red snapper. We will monitor the microalgae feeding of the cattle, and will test the beef in the slaughterhouse.

Is EnviroBeef more costly than regular beef?

Yes, everything else being the same, EnviroBeef is about 10% per pound more costly to produce, due to the cost of the ultra-pure seaweed and microalgae feed ingredients.

Will I be able to buy EnviroBeef from regularly-fed cattle?

Our microalgae and seawed will be used in all segments of the cattle feeding industry. So yes, you will be able to buy lower cost beef from cattle that have been fed antibiotics and have had hormone implants to stimulate growth.  Or you can buy “Natural” EnviroBeef which is free of hormones and antibiotics, and therefore is natural beef. Or you can buy grassfed or organic EnviroBeef.

Are government approvals needed in Europe before you can deliver the EnviroBeef?

No, the feeding of our algae to cattle has already been approved for use in the European Union. So, in the near term we can supply our algae to cattle in Ireland and import the Irish beef to the US and throughout Europe.

What approval is needed in the US?

In the US, the omega-3 oil from the same microalgae is approved for human foods. However, approval has not yet been sought by US companies to feed this algae species to animals. Our company will soon conduct another cattle feed test at a major US university which is designed for scientific publication. The successful results of this demonstration will be published in a refereed journal. After a review of this publication, and other public data, an independent panel of scientists can declare that our “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) conclusion would also be reached by appropriately qualified experts.  The seaweed is already approved in California, and soon will be approved in other states. We will begin commercial microalgae and seaweed feeding in selected states of the US.

After we start commercial operation in selected states, we will conduct a large-scale cattle feed demonstration and publish those results, in order to pursue a Letter of No Objection by the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, which will allow us to produce and sell EnviroBeef in all US states.

Why hasn’t algae-fed beef been approved for sale in the United States before now?

Until now, no one believed omega-3s could be fed to cattle to produce high amounts of omega-3s DHA and EPA in the beef. When fed by themselves as fishmeal, scientists knew that the omega-3s were “digested” in the first stomach of the cattle and were made into saturated fats with no benefit to the beef. The type of algae we use has a strong outer skin (cell wall) which acts as a barrier protecting the omega-3s inside. When the whole algae reach the small intestine, the cell wall is dissolved, releasing the omega-3s to be absorbed into the cattle’s blood stream, and to be deposited in the muscles. EnviroBeef’s founder invented and patented the idea of selecting a particular algae species having both high levels of omega-3s and a strong cell wall.

Is the feeding of the anti-methane seaweed approved in the US?

The company Symbrosia, which manufactures asparagopsis in Hawaii, announced in the Spring of 2023 that the State of California approved the supplement as Generally Recognized as Safe. We expect Symbrosia and other producers will soon seek similar approval in other states, and ultimately in all the US by the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM).

EnviroBeef Co. will soon undertake a feed test at a major US university to obtain data with which to publish in a science journal that its omega-3 microalgae alone and when combined with the antimethane seaweed is GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) allowing its commercial use in selected states.  And we will later undertake a larger study with which to obtain US  FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) acceptance of the microalgae as GRAS in all states.