Jeff Burgar
Would you rather buy hamburger made from Canadian beef? A Canadian roast? Or a Canadian pack of steaks for your next barbecue? On those steaks, you might have to get a bank loan to pay for them!
Most people these days, given the turmoil and uproar over “Elbows Up” and the desire to stick it to President Donald Trump, would say it’s a no-brainer. Of course we are going to buy Canadian!
It isn’t as easy as it sounds.
According to the National Post (https://nationalpost.com/opinion/terry-newman-why-your-steak-sucks-this-summer) finding Canadian beef can be hard. Laws that say beef has to be clearly labelled to not really say that, if one digs into the wording. Plus, foreign beef can be imported whole, then butchered in Canada, then labelled as a Canadian product.
The Post found in many cases, grocery stores and butchers often don’t know where their meat comes from. That’s not to say, for example, Alberta stores are clueless. Reporters chasing down a story don’t have the resources to cover all instances, or investigate every store in Alberta, never mind Canada.
Albertans in particular are quite proud of their producer industry. As far as we’re concerned, our people raise the best beef in the world.
Sure, we’ve been burned. One big example was the movement to buy beef, in support of the struggling industry years ago. Quick to react and it seemed, to take advantage, too many grocery chains jumped on the bandwagon and pushed garbage hamburger out the doors.
On steaks, many homegrown “experts” say they can tell the difference between American and Canadian beef, even without a clear label. American beef in restaurants there are usually serving steaks or roasts from corn fed animals. Alberta beef is grain fed or finished. Some people say there’s also a texture difference. Critics argue any difference is just from freezing and thawing meat.
After the BSE “mad cow” calamity over 20 years ago, most countries closed their borders to Canadian beef. In fact, only this year Australia re-opened their own border to Canadian beef.
Meanwhile, with Trump swinging threats like a sledge-hammer against every target he can find, it’s time to bring back the old arguments about “country of origin labels.”
We are rightly very proud of our beef producers.
These days beef is going up and up in price. Yet input costs of production are increasing even faster. So maybe it’s too many middle-men in the chain keeping producers from getting a fair dollar for their work. Maybe its wheeling and dealing that allows foreign beef into Canada, undercutting local business. If there’s a way to squeeze any food producers, no matter what the product, the higher ups in the food chain seem to find a way. Canned Brazilian beef is still a staple in many pantries. Now New Zealand product is showing up. Meanwhile, Canadian beef herds are being decimated.
Clearly labelling those plastic wrapped products on the meat shelf could be a good start. So would exporting our high-quality product to customers that know quality when they taste it.