‘Nobody has more tasty beef than Alberta’
Premier Rachel Notley says nobody has more tasty beef than Alberta, but she urged a national roundtable to “move quickly” on a certification process in light of a controversy stirred up by a Canadian restaurant chain.
“There’s no place in the world where you can get more tasty beef than in Alberta,” the premier said Friday in a conference call from Washington, D.C. “I think most people know that and the brand is a strong one.”
She said she hoped the national roundtable on certification of organic meat swiftly develops a certification process “that confirms what we all know to be true — that Alberta produces great beef, and that it’s the best meal you can order in any restaurant.”
Notley didn’t mention the Earls restaurant chain by name, but said that it’s important to support the agriculture industry, which is still doing well despite the economic downturn in the province caused by the collapse of oil prices.
Vancouver- based Earls announced Tuesday that it would no longer serve Alberta beef.
Earls said it plans to serve only Certified Humane beef — meaning beef raised without antibiotics, steroids or added hormones, and slaughtered according to the specifications of an animal welfare expert.
The chain says Alberta ranchers can’t produce sufficient quantity of the product.
The decision to begin sourcing its beef from the U.S. instead of Canada has been called a “slap in the face” by some Alberta ranchers.
Supporters of ranchers and feedlot operators have been using social media to urge a boycott of the chain.
The Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef is encouraging retail and food service companies and supply chain stakeholders to join their effort and “support the production of homegrown, Cana- dian beef.” The roundtable was formed by beef industry and environmental leaders in 2014, with the aim of ensuring beef production is environmentally sound, socially responsible and economically viable.
The committee will try to define what sustainable means, then try to demonstrate to retailers and consumers that choosing Canadian beef is an ethical, environmentally responsible thing to do.
The roundtable has more than 90 members and observers, according to its chair, Cherie CopithorneBarnes, a Canadian cattle rancher. “We are working hard to set the framework for sustainable beef in Canada and welcome others to join us,” she said in a statement Friday. Earls has said if at any point the Canadian industry starts producing the volume of Certified Humane, antibiotic-free and steroid-free beef it requires, it will be happy to begin buying beef from Canada again.