Organic agriculture is a system of production that promotes management practices to restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony while minimizing the use of off-farm inputs. Organic is a labeling term which denotes products produced under the requirements of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990. Meat certified as organic is from animals that have been raised using no antibiotics or other drugs. They also must have been raised on organic feed, grown in soil certified free of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. The equipment and mill that mix and deliver the organic feed, as well as the meat processing plant, also must meet organic standards.

Antibiotics, often the same or nearly identical to those used in humans, are used widely in raising food animals. Antibiotics are especially relied upon by gigantic factory farms where thousands of pigs, cattle or poultry often are crammed tightly together with little or no access to fresh air and pasture. Low levels of antibiotic are fed to these animals, not to treat sickness but to spur them to market weight more quickly, and to "prevent" infections in animals stressed by the crowded conditions.

Factory Farms also dump millions of pounds of untreated manure into the environment each year - manure likely containing antibiotics. This practice helps breed bacteria resistant to these drugs.