Take a Big Mac to lunch today

Friends on both sides of the country, who have really nothing to do with agriculture, recently sent me a copy of a circulating email they had received which calls for a boycott of McDonald’s Restaurant because the Canadian division of the company is buying ground beef from South America.

The campaign, which was supposedly launched by a London/Windsor-area Ontario resident, also notes his alarm that all Canadian beef producers have to sign statements at the auction mart saying they will “never feed our cattle any part of another animal. South Americans are not required to do this…”

This may be a misguided consumer, or the whole thing may be a hoax, but it certainly has got wide distribution. The jist of the email is to support the Canadian beef industry, which is good, but the content contains misinformation. There has been a ban on feeding animal protein to ruminants since at least 2003, so I’m not sure where this “signing a paper” thing comes from.

McDonalds is certainly aware of this campaign, and in checking around the industry I sourced a letter from Jeff Kroll, senior vice-president, national supply chain, for McDonalds in Canada who says:

“This email is a hoax,” writes Kroll. “We currently source 100 percent 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 U.S. 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,” says Kroll.

Now, on the other hand, my wife may have other reasons why she would like me to boycott McDonalds. It has something to do with getting into what Conway Twitty called ‘those tight fitting jeans’. Not hers, mine. Unfortunately on me it isn’t pretty or sexy.

However, I believe this is no time to be shallow. I think for the sake of helping to support Mr. McDonald and his burger business, I have an obligation to keep buying those Angus burgers at McDonalds. It is the least I can do for the economy and my country.