got this e-mail, is it accurate?

[grassfarmer]

Not saying I distrust MacDonalds in this case but I wouldn't always believe what these big outfits tell you either. The NFU in Scotland bought some "certified Scotch Angus" beef at a Tesco superstore a few years back and had it DNA tested. The result proved conclusively it was Bos Indicus ie it was southern hemisphere Brahma type beef rather than what it was advertised as.
When there is money to be made do not trust these big corporations to be honest.

[wilagro]

How true, how true. Corporations are always covering their *ss to save face. If you watch "Marketplace", this becomes quite apparent.

[per]

Notwithstanding the deception and lies etc of what you say GF. Can any of us tell the difference between southern hemisphere beef and any other beef especially in hamburger? I have eaten beef on 3 different continents and have had good and bad everywhere. Just a curiosity question. Of course I might not be a true connaisseur. I like the taste of grass finished beef I suspect unlike many here.

[grassfarmer]

Good point Per. There is the old adage that you will know when you've eat bos indicus because the corners of your mouth will turn down like a brahma's ears! I don't really believe that though and like you I've eaten good and bad beef in several countries. I don't consider myself a connaisseur either and in fact can't always tell the difference between grass and grain finished beef and I suspect this is true of many other people too. Apart from my own beef the truly outstanding beef I can remember years later, in no particular order, were some Alberta Angus grain-fed beef cooked up by the Angus CEO, some cow beef from Botswana cooked on a braai in South Africa and some stir fry beef eaten in Vietnam of all places.
This is worth thinking about when we talk about having the best beef in the world and how Alberta grain fed beef is known and loved the world over. The difficulty of telling what you are eating is worth noting too as we move into an era of increasing global trade and the possibility of cheap imports being brought into Canada.

[PureCountry]

Just have to say that alot of people got fired up and plum mad about this e-mail, and I laughed at everyone of them. Why? Because you could tell the e-mail was BS from the start. How? No idiot would circulate an e-mail like this claiming that we have the best beef in the world and blah, blah, blah, when all we're talking about is the bloody grind that nobody wants to deal with anyway.

On top of that, if anyone has spent more than 1 hour in an auction market watching the "diversity" - to put it nicely - of cattle that flow into our food chain, they'd know that such claims are hardly credible. Our beef may be the safest and easiest to track, but the best? It's arguable to say it as a whole. Certainly the best I've had has been Canadian beef, but I won't say that all Canadian beef is world class. It just ain't so.