Canadians can better help beef producers by eating roasts and meat from front and hind sections of the animal rather than the more expensive rib eye and T-bone steaks, says the president of the Canada Beef Export Federation.
That’s because Canadian packers are importing the higher-end cuts from the United States.
“Work with retailers to find wonderful ways to marinate and prepare outside round, inside round and sirloin and chuck for the barbecue,” said Ted Haney. “You can still barbecue, you just have to use marinade.”
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With more than 200,000 head of cattle backed up in feedlots, Canadians would naturally expect they would be helping beleaguered producers by eating their way through the surplus.
Traditionally, Canadian packers supply the domestic market with high-end steaks and ribs and export the excess from the front and hind sections. However, they can no longer do that because of the closed U.S. border. To avoid a massive surplus of front and hind end cuts, they are importing the high-end cuts from the U.S.
“Once they meet those high-end needs, they have to stop because there’s only so much they can put into storage,” Haney said.
“The more Canadians buy out of hip and chuck cuts, it will help with the balance of our overall industry.”
Packers and processors who sell to Canadian retailers are filling the meat through their own American sources instead of forcing retailers to search for their own steak supplies from Australia, New Zealand or Uruguay, he added.
“They’re bringing in extra steak cuts to make up for the demand levels, especially during the summer barbecue season.”
Once the border is reopened, it will be easier to switch back to Canadian supplies.
Don Wiesbeck, mayor of Brooks, Alta., said he doesn’t buy the argument that Canadian retailers need to import that much American beef. As a former McDonald’s restaurant owner, he knows that some of the beef for hamburgers didn’t come from Canada.
Together with officials from the county of Newell, he is surveying suppliers to see where they are getting their beef supply and encouraging them to use Canadian beef as much as possible.
The greatest effect won’t come from his survey, he added, but from Canadians asking their grocery stores to use only Canadian beef.
