A BEEF about Big Mac

[TOM4CWB]

Charlie,

I got an e-mail from a good friend last night about the 'Golden Arches'.

Since 2003 much cheap beef had been avaliable because of our BSE crisis.

We ate our way through that problem... so guess what?

NOW Canadian beef is too expensive?

I fired off a fax to McDonalds Canada:

To,
McDonalds Canada
Dear Sir or Madam;

I received some very concerning information about the lack of use of Canadian beef in my McDonalds.

Something about not enough Canadian Beef to supply McDonalds?

I thought McDonalds used to advertise 100 percent Canadian Beef!

I can not believe McDonalds can't supply me my burgers with 100% Canadian Beef!!!

Question:
Can I be assured that I will be eating Canadian Beef when I choose to buy a burger from my local McDonalds in
Canada?

Please return your response to my(fax);

From a very concerned Alberta Family Farm:


Background:

A Must read .. CANADIAN Beef

A GOOD DECENT MAN WHO TOOK THE TIME TO WRITE THIS. HE SIGNED THE
STATEMENT AND INCLUDED HIS CONTACT INFO.

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 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
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.
>
I am sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at
least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... and those 300 send it to at I east ten
more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the
sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION
consumers!"

So we supported our BEEF industry and all were proud Canadians when BSE made our beef cheap.

Now the supply is 'less' and South American grass fed (instead of western feed grains)... we will ship our burger meat in from 5000 miles away...

So much for the corporate conscience of McDonalds!!!

I wonder how McDonalds will reply???

[burnt]

The same response as they gave to everyone else who received that bit of spam?

Did you check his contact info? When I did, it was a number that didn't work - a clever feint. Make sure you are not being used as someone's useful idiot . . .

[BTOfarmall]

Its called Spread da Wealth. Besides you Cow Guys kin't produce Beef here in Comedia cheap enough. We'll buy it elsewhere. Fix You's if'n you's wanna price what da Market kin bare............

[TOM4CWB]

Burnt,

I checked the McDonalds web site... NO MORE 100 percent Canadian Beef advertised. What makes you think this is false?

[TOM4CWB]

GTO,

Go find a farmall outside and hold on to it with wet bare hands for 5 minutes!

[burnt]

Tom, did you check it out?

I received that "forward" several times and when I checked it out, it turned out to be a fabrication.

The first time I got it, I started with the proffered contact info and it got me no where.

Did you check the validity of the contact info or whether the "good, decent man" actually exists?? Ask the ACFA if they endorsed it. (Is there an ACFA) The OCA put it to rest as a hoax here in the east.

It is another prime example of a fabrication that elicits an emotional response before rationality kicks in.

Just sayin'

I am not a McDonald's booster at all, but neither do I have time for the garbage that lands in my inbox.

[TOM4CWB]

Burnt,

If the Golden Arches uses 100 percent beef... then they should be proud of this and say so.

Why did McDonalds stop advertising this(100 percent Canadian Beef)?

Hence my fax requesting a response.

[Burbert]

The interweb, should be called the Miss-information highway. A huge amount of the crap on the web is just that, crap, hosted and posted by Miss-informers for various reasons. Angriville is part of the highway! Nuf said...... Deal with it and move on people.

[Happytrails]

Tom, our government allows off shore beef duty free access to the Canadian market on a quota basis. This is to benefit consumers, not ranchers. Sometimes the gov't allows supplemental quotas to satisfy food industry requests. That shouldn't happen and it is up to us to make sure it doesn't. We need to take a page from RCALF's book and stand up for our selves. Good on you for bringing up the issue. HT

[farmers_son]

Burnt correctly pointed out the story is a fabrication. It is hoax, pure and simple. Check out the facts at:

http://www.cattle.ca/cca-responds

http://www.cattle.ca/media/file/original/660_11-03-09-cca_responds_cca_president_rebuts_hoax_email_attac k_on_mcdonalds_canada.pdf

http://www.cattle.ca/media/file/original/659_2-25-09-mcdonalds_cca_beef_statement.pdf

[stubblejumper]

I now understand Tom better, he beleives anything that was spamed to him by a so called freind.

[burnt]

Tom, it burns my butt as bad as the next guy that they blend in imported beef to cheapen their cost. After all, I am a Canadian beef producer. But it's the world we live in today.

That being said, I agree that we must keep pressure on them to keep the import levels to quota.

I wonder how M&M Meats is making out with their supply since the Australian flooding shut the shipping port down at Brisbane. 90% of Aussie beef goes out through that harbor, according to a news report I heard this morning.

A local beef producer called here recently and said that he stood outside a M&M Meat shop with a sign proclaiming the Aussie origin of the beef they sell. The management came out, confiscated his sign and told him to leave the premises.

Had it been me, I would have asked for them to return the sign, and failing that, I would have reported them to the police for theft of private property.

What a platform that would have made - free press coverage of a very rancorous issue!

[BTOfarmall]

Tom who is dis Friend of Yer's????

[grassfarmer]

Of course this is a long running hoax as farmers_son points out - I thought even Tom might have heard of it before.
On the other hand does McDonalds putting out a press release backed by CCA provide conclusive proof? In other words how much do we trust them?
In Scotland there was a case where the NFU there pulled some beef of a Tesco store shelf that was branded "Scotch Angus beef" and had it DNA tested and conclusively proven to be of Bos Indicus origin (that is to say of Brahma type cattle - most likely indicating south American imported being passed off as a Scottish branded beef product) Just saying...

[riders2010]

We don't eat alot to begin with at the Big M but sure as heck won't now until we know for sure it is Canadian Beef there or any other outlet for that matter when we are travelling. There almost should be a list of restaurants food chains etc. that gives this info, maybe there is one already anyone know?