I'll warn you, watching this video is not for the faint of heart. Actually, it's probably not for anyone with a heart, because of the terrible cruelty involved. But though I can't see beyond the animal rights issues that are obviously brought to light by the undercover video recently released by the Humane Society, I know that not everyone shares that particular viewpoint.

But there's another issue here that may hit closer to home...your dinner plate. These cows were being beaten, pushed with forklift blades, and sprayed with high-power hoses so that they would get up and walk into the slaughterhouse. The problem? They were "downer" cows, sick or injured, and the use of them as food is restricted by law. Whether or not these particular cows made it to the food supply is in question, but Humane Society leaders say what happened in this video is not an isolated event.

Food safety is a major issue in America today, and as this video highlights, our best interests are not always top priority. I'll continue to vote against these types of practices with my food dollar by avoiding factory farmed animals and buying meat only from local sources that I know and trust. I'm not opposed to adding an occasional piece of meat to my meal, but I just can't swallow the suffering.

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Even though beef has been getting a bad reputation lately for bacterial contaminations, antibiotics, hormones, etc, many people still love eating it and can't give it up. Does that sound like you? If so, have you tried grass-fed beef? It really comes down to personal preference, like any kind of food, but here are 5 reasons why you should give grass-fed beef a try if you haven't already:

• Grass-fed beef is lower in bad fats, higher in good fats, and higher in several vitamins and antioxidants than other beef.
• Grass-fed cattle don't need as many antibiotics as cattle packed densely into a feed-lot do.
• Most grass-fed beef production practices do not include injections of growth hormones.
• Some studies have shown that grass-fed beef is less likely to harbor acid-resistant E.coli bacteria, due to differing stomach environments.
• Grass-fed cattle herds have never been affected by Mad Cow disease.

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