Producers have a beef with Earls
A veterinarian who’s also an epidemiologist and stock grower hopes the backlash to a restaurant chain’s decision to go out of Canada for beef supposedly raised in a “humane” way sends a lesson to that chain and others.
Leigh Rosengren, who practises and farms near Midale, is also heartened by the willingness of Canadians to show, through social media and other means, support for the Canadian cattle industry.
That reflects the fact Canadians know we have “the safest food system in the world” and can “see through” claims that it isn’t.
The Earls restaurant chain triggered this controversy by announcing Tuesday it would become the first chain in North America to serve only “Certified Humane” beef — meaning beef raised without the use of antibiotics, steroids or added hormones, and slaughtered according to the specifications of animal welfare expert Dr. Temple Grandin.
Earls — which uses more than two million pounds of beef each year — claimed it was unable to find a Canadian supplier that could meet the chain’s demand for the product, though it said nothing about working with Canadian producers to do so. That means that beef served at Earls restaurants nationwide will no longer come from Canada, but from Kansas.
This prompted Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall to tweet: “So @earlsrestaurant didn’t even consult with Canadian cattle producers before opting for US beef …”
And his Alberta counterpart, Rachel Notley, tweeted that Alberta beef is “the best in the world” and she’s proud of the province’s producers.
And Chad MacPherson sees things the same way.
The general manager of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association cites the example of another restaurant chain — McDonald’s.
Rather than shun Canadian beef, he says the chain has worked with Canadian producers to refine its requirements for verifying beef raised in an environmentally sustainable way. And McDonald’s uses it proudly, to the point of having an ad campaign that shows a hamburger bun, some lettuce—and nothing else save for the caption “Without Canadian beef, there’d be no Big Mac.”
He also said Canada’s 68,000 cattle producers are grateful for the outpouring of support since Earls’ announcement, saying Canadians acknowledge the industry’s “world-class” standards for producing foods that are safe, healthy and nutritious.
He also found it ironic that Earls invoked the name of Grandin, who thinks enough of Canadian livestock standards that she’s doing a charity event on autism awareness in co-operation with his association in Regina on June 12.
As for whether this week’s furore will create a boycott of Earls and other firms that avoid Canadian beef, he said, “I don’t know how far it would will go.”
But he added that Earls clearly made a marketing decision, hoping to differentiate itself from other restaurant chains. As he put it, “It’s a competitive market out there.”
Canada’s 68,000 cattle producers are grateful for the outpouring of support since Earls’ announcement, CHAD MACPHERSON