Labels such as organic, grass-fed and non-GMO can add noticeably different amounts to the price of meat, according to a new study of U.S. grocery listings.
Researchers analyzed more than 750,000 online listings for beef, chicken and pork and found that most of the specialty claims they examined were associated with higher prices. But there was no single markup shoppers could expect across all meat products. For example, organic chicken carried an estimated 7% premium, while grass-fed beef was priced about 33% higher than comparable beef without the claim.
The study, published in PLOS One, used online grocery prices collected from major U.S. chains across 342 ZIP codes during September 2022. Researchers compared products while accounting for factors that can affect price, including the type of meat, cut, store chain, region and whether an item was on sale.
Among beef products, organic and grass-fed claims were each associated with prices about 33% higher than comparable products without those claims. Non-GMO beef carried an estimated 25% premium.
The picture looked different for chicken.
Organic chicken was associated with only about a 7% premium, while grass-fed chicken carried an estimated 17% premium and non-GMO chicken about 7%.
Some of the largest estimated markups appeared on pork. Organic pork was associated with prices about 43% higher, while grass-fed pork carried an estimated 63% premium.
Researchers also examined less-common claims, including products marketed as producing less greenhouse gas. Those labels were associated with particularly large price differences, including estimated premiums of about 69% for beef and 65% for chicken.
But those products were rare. Less-greenhouse-gas claims appeared on only 0.35% of beef listings and 0.12% of chicken listings, so the researchers cautioned against placing too much weight on those estimates.
A similarly striking result appeared for non-GMO pork, which was associated with a price premium of nearly 99%. But only 0.19% of pork listings carried that claim, making the estimate much less certain than findings based on more commonly labeled products.
Not every label was associated with a higher price.
Beef carrying a gluten-free claim was priced about 14% lower than comparable beef without the claim, while gluten-free chicken and pork were associated with higher prices.
The researchers noted that plain meat is naturally gluten-free unless another ingredient containing gluten has been added. That means a gluten-free label may be technically accurate without necessarily distinguishing the product from similar meat sitting next to it.
The study also does not tell shoppers why one label commands a larger premium than another.
Higher prices can reflect additional production or certification costs, greater consumer demand, retailer pricing decisions or some combination of those factors. The analysis was designed to measure price differences in the marketplace, not determine what portion of a premium comes from each source.
And a higher price does not, by itself, tell consumers whether one product is healthier, better for the environment or a better value.
The labels examined in the study describe different things. Organic certification, grass-fed production and non-GMO claims are not interchangeable, and a claim such as gluten-free addresses something entirely different from greenhouse gas emissions.
That makes the findings most useful as a snapshot of how those claims are priced rather than a ranking of which labels shoppers should seek out.
The data also come with an important time limitation. Prices were collected during one month in 2022. Meat prices, promotions and product availability can change over time and by season, so the exact premiums shoppers see today may differ.
Even within the study, location mattered. Meat prices tended to be higher in the Northeast, Southeast and West than in the Midwest, while prices were generally lower in the Delta and Southern Plains regions. Store chain and type of cut also had significant effects on price.
The study received support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Economic Research Service.