got this e-mail, is it accurate?

[ivbinconned]

I'm sure those of you who aren't in the cattle

>> business don't understand the issues here. But to those

>> of us whose living depends on the cattle market, selling

>> cattle, raising the best beef possible... This is

>> frustrating.


>> This will keep us from ever stopping there again, even for

>> a drink.


>> The original message is from the Alberta Cattle Feeders Association



>> Canadian cattle producers are very passionate about this.

>>

>> McDonald's claims that there is not enough beef in the

>> Canada to support their restaurants. Well, we know that is not

>> so. Our opinion is they are looking to save money at our

>> expense. The sad thing of it is that the people of the Canada

>> are the ones who made McDonald's successful in the first

>> place, but we are not good enough to provide beef.

>>

>> We personally are no longer eating at McDonald's, which

>> I am sure does not make an impact, but if we pass this

>> around maybe there will be an impact felt.

>>

>> Please pass it on. Just to add a note:

>>

>> All Canadians that sell cattle at a livestock auction barn

>> have to sign a paper stating that we do NOT EVER feed our

>> cattle any part of another animal. South Americans are not

>> required to do this as of yet.

>>

>> McDonald's has announced that they are going to start

>> importing much of their beef from South America . The problem

>> is that South Americans aren't under the same

>> regulations as Canadian beef producers, and the regulations

>> they have are loosely controlled.

>>

>> They can spray numerous pesticides on their pastures that

>> have been banned here at home because of residues found in

>> the beef. They can also use various hormones and growth

>> regulators that we can't. The Canadian public needs to

>> be aware of this problem and that they may be putting

>> themselves at risk from now on by eating at good old

>> McDonald's.

>>

>> Canadian ranchers raise the highest quality beef in the

>> world and this is what Canadians deserve to eat. Not beef

>> from countries where quality is loosely controlled.

>> Therefore, I am proposing a boycott of

>> McDonald's until they see the light.

>>

>> I'm sorry but everything is not always about the bottom

>> line, and when it comes to jeopardizing my family's

>> health, that is where I draw the line.

[frustrated1]

I got it too. Seems to me this same one floated around shortly after the initial BSE and we were trying to rid the world of Canadian hamburger. Can't verify if this is new or old news. Or if it ever was fact.

[kato]

The same story is circulating in the U.S. about them replacing American beef with South American.

[wd40]

Someone should be able to verify if indeed MaDonalds is buying and how much of shore.

[TOM4CWB]

Grainbeetle;

Where do you get your income from... grain sales off a farm you own... or from CWB deductions off my Board grain cheques?

[kryger]

The freight and terminal handling mentioned on the pool operations under wheat, add up to $30.13 per tonne.
Is that added freight going to the East coast?
Moving wheat from my elevator in Killam, AB. to the coast, costs me $48.00 per tonne. Add the $30.13 per tonne to $48.00 per tonne, $78.13 per tonne. That makes -$40.00 per tonne basis on canola cheap.
Right now basis on canola is anywhere from zero to -$11.00 per tonne. Them muti-nationals are just raping us.

[loric]

I've been in contact with BIC and Alberta Cattle Feeders today regarding this. Rest assured - this email is a hoax. Below is a letter from a McDonald's representative that was sent to me just now.

Cheers
Lori

There have been a number of people at McDonald’s Canada who’ve seen the email circulating about where we source our beef. Please feel free to pass my response on to anyone who has sent the email to you.



This email is a hoax. We currently source 100% of our beef from farms and ranches right across Canada and have no plans today to purchase any beef from South America. In the past we’ve purchased small quantities of beef from New Zealand, Australia and the United States, but have always sourced the vast majority of our beef from Canada.



The first email on this topic originally surfaced in the US in 2002 – at that time referencing the Texas Cattle Feeders Association – and it has resurfaced again in 2005, 2007, and again in 2008. McDonald’s representatives in the US have spoken with the Texas Cattle Feeders Association and they deny any association with the email. In 2009, a Canadian version emerged that’s practically identical to the one that originated in the US.



McDonald's Canada remains one of the largest purchasers of Canadian beef, and we are proud supporters of the Canadian beef industry.

I hope this clears up the confusion.

Jeff Kroll

Senior Vice-President, National Supply Chain

McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Limited

[checking]

This is my problem with the CWB related to the 2007-2008 annual report and before. Their testimonials from some significant acreage players, 9500 acre - Sask, 4700 acre - Alberta, 2500 acre - Manitoba, close to the U.S. border, would lead the public to believe that support is there for the CWB, and it is not just coming from 160 acre hobby farmers, retired landlords, organic farmers, commercial seed growers, and I haven't got time to market my own grain farmers. Throw in the close to the U.S. border because everyone knows I love to have my durum railed to Thunder Bay. I speak specifically about durum, because I don't grow wheat. I'll give you supporters your dues on how happy you are with the CWB results. I know from listening to North Dakota farmers that 75% of them contracted their durum in the spring of 2007 for $5.00 to $7.00/bushel, a good price compared to previous years. One N.D. farmer told me that when the price went to $10.00/bushel, he couldn't stand waiting any longer, pulled the trigger, and sold the majourity of his durum. His floor vacuum durum, a small amount, he sold at $23.00/bushel. When I told him the CWB paid out $12.00/ bushel average, because that is all farmers get is an average, he said, " I wish I could have got that". Here's my problem CWB supporters. There is no incentive for the 25% of us that have discipline, don't panic, and think orderly marketing sucks, which is the prime objective of the CWB over everything else. I'll give credit to those few of you who would have contracted 2008-2009 sales, if you would have been allowed, when everyone had the information and realized the short crop rally was on, but you missed it for 2007-2008. Don't feel bad because so did the all knowing CWB. I don't for one second believe that the CWB didn't pre-sell a whole bunch of durum in early 2007, and on long term contracts at the traditional price it was use to asking. Further, at every opportunity, I tell those CWB marketers that they should be giving free weather equipment and free subscriptions to competitor durum market countries so that the Board knows what their crops are doing. Knowing ours is not the priority, unless blowing our durum out early is really the priority. Who could possibly accuse them of that? I'm one of the 14% who voted for the CWB demise. I did so because I got tired of the supporter argument that I wanted it both ways. From the testimonials, it's apparent that there is enough CWB durum growers out there that you would make a significant pool amoungst yourself with the CWB handling your affairs. I'm out, and I don't want in, ever, which suprisingly actually met the concerns of some, others claimed I'm just being greedy because of my situation, ability to store grain, and no outside pressures, things that they didn't have. I call it discipline, they call it greed, yet I never could understand the greed part because we all know the CWB got a premium on it's durum sales.

[TOM4CWB]

Checking,

The Alberta Viterra dry bean pooling system... is a perfect example of proof that the CWB is blowing smoke about voluntary pooling NOT being a viable option. US bean companies came in... and then left... because growers were treated fairly and respected. AND THIS IS IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA.

THE CWB could INCREASE volume by at least 25%... from the value of crops it buys today... if it respected growers and did what Viterra does for dry bean growers.

The 'single desk' argument the CWB uses today... is bogus nonsense... and the CWB directors know it.

Meanwhile we continue to lose well over half a $$$ Billion a year... because the whole system the CWB creates... breeds deception... mistrust... greed... fear... and promotes a break down of co-operation.

If the CWB would be honest... instead of being lazy destructive academic vegetation... our assets and communities would all prosper much more than what we settle for today!

[wilagro]

There is so much falsified info on the Internet and especially so with e-mail that is mass circulated.

Rumours are just lies in a different guise...disregard 99.99% of them.

Some of this SPAM is circulated to cause deliberate trouble against some real or imagined group for reasons of revenge or for just regular, ordinary devilment. Some of these troublemakers know that they wont be caught so anything goes.

[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.