Several industry organizations are joining in the conversation with Sobeys. The letter below was sent to Sobeys from the Beef Information Centre. If you haven't written to Sobeys, please consider doing so. compliments@sobeys.com

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I am writing in response to the Spring 2010 Inspired Magazine article “Easy Being Green”, and in particular, to the suggestion to “try going meatless once a week”.

I am the Executive Director, Communications for the Beef Information Centre (BIC), the beef marketing division of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. We represent Canada’s 86,000 beef cattle producers and work with beef industry stakeholders such as consumers, retailers, foodservice operators, health professionals, government and media promoting Canadian beef.

BIC has had a long partnership with Sobeys and its value chain partners in the marketing and merchandising of Canadian beef. We appreciate that Sobeys have recognized the value of our programs and have benefitted from our knowledge on meat case management, cutting and merchandising as well as our wealth of resources that target consumers. Sobeys recently partnered with our Canadian beef brand launch, supporting our radio ads with gift cards for consumers, and have committed to use some of the Canadian beef brand merchandising materials in the meat case.

Consequently, we were very disappointed to see Sobeys suggest consumers cut a healthy and nutritious product like Canadian beef from their diet once a week and feel that this suggestion was likely made based on erroneous information.
The article says that eating less meat will help consumers lower their cholesterol and saturated fat intake. Sobeys’ customers should know that Canadian beef is lean. In fact eight cuts of Canadian beef, plus lean and extra Lean ground beef, as well as ground sirloin, chuck and round; qualify for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada's Health Check™ program. BIC was instrumental in bringing this program to the meat case and it is a program in which many regions within the Sobeys group take part.
The article mentions that legumes, tofu, peanut butter and shelled nuts are all recognized by Canada’s Food Guide - so is Canadian beef. Lean beef is full of nutrients, 14 that Canadians need every day, including zinc for healthy growth, iron for oxygen and protein to build and repair the body. Canadians would be better served to eat a healthy balanced diet from all four food groups, rather than cutting nutritious Canadian beef from their diets. In fact, many Canadians are neglecting to eat the recommended daily servings from each of the four food groups and are getting 22 per cent of their total daily calories from foods low in nutritional value, like snack foods.

The article also suggests that eating less meat is better for the environment. Canadian cattle producers are leaders in the environmental management of the land and water they use to raise cattle. The long term sustainability of their farms and ranches depends on it.

The temperate grasslands where cattle graze are twice as efficient at storing carbon as are temperate forests. Pastures exist where food crops can’t - on land that is too steep, too cold, too dry or inaccessible to farm machinery. In Canada, nearly one third of our agricultural land is unsuitable for crops, but is suitable for grasses which are used to raise grazing livestock and support wildlife. These grasslands are part of a natural carbon cycle where they capture and store carbon while they grow in the spring and summer and release carbon as they fall dormant and decompose through the winter.

Farmers and ranchers use cattle to harvest grass (inedible for humans) and convert it into a nutrient-rich food for people. As part of the digestion process, cattle produce green house gases such as methane. Emissions from cattle are largely a factor of feed quality and digestibility. As feed quality increases, emissions per pound of meat produced decreases. Due to producers’ land management practices, the quality of feed and pastures in Canada exceeds that of most other countries. As well, selective breeding programs in the Canadian cattle herd have lead to cattle that are very efficient in feed conversion minimizing emissions from the digestive process.

It is important to understand agriculture’s contribution to Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). According to Environment Canada, Canadian agriculture is responsible for about 9.5% of Canada’s GHG emissions. In comparison, transportation is 22%; fossil fuel production is 22%; electrical generation is 16%; heavy manufacturing is 16% and residential is 7%. (source: Canada’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions – Understanding the Trends, November 2008, Environment Canada)

Canada’s 86,000 beef cattle producers are proud of the product they produce and the way in which they raise it. I would suggest that there are much better ways to contribute to the preservation of the environment than encouraging Canadians to eat less Canadian beef. Please feel free to contact BIC at any time for information on our industry and product. We look forward to continuing to work with Sobeys in the future. I can be reached in our Calgary office at 403-451-0916, rglaser@beefinfo.org.

Sincerely,

Ron Glaser
Executive Director, Communications
Beef Information Centre

In the Spring 2010 issue of Sobeys Inspired Magazine, an article entitled, Easy Being Green, promoted going meatless one day a week because ‘studies suggest that eating less meat is better for the environment.’ Without identifying the studies cited, the article suggested readers ‘try going meatless once a week,’ based on the notions that ‘most animals raised for consumption need large amounts of land and water, which is a drain on our natural resources,’ and that cows produce methane, ‘which contributes to greenhouse gases.’ Cutting back on meat will benefit the environment, insisted the article, and lower cholesterol and saturated fat intake to boot. Eating less meat was one of three ‘simple ideas’ in the article to ‘help the planet.’

The Beef Information Centre (BIC), the marketing arm of the CCA, took umbrage with the Inspired article. In a letter to Sobeys, the BIC expressed its disappointment that the grocery retailer would suggest consumers cut a healthy and nutritious product like Canadian beef from their diet once a week, as the suggestion was likely made based on erroneous information.

In its letter to Sobeys, the BIC refuted all the assertions put forth in the Inspired article. In particular, the BIC letter noted that Canadian cattle producers are leaders in the environmental management of the land and water they use to raise cattle. “The long term sustainability of their farms and ranches depend on it,” the BIC wrote. (Click here to see BIC letter in full.)

The BIC received a written response from Sobeys, in which the grocer states that the articles it publishes ‘are accurate, reference credible sources and studies, and offer a variety of opinions for consumers.’

‘At Sobeys we greatly value the beef producers industry, along with our other industry partners as we do all our various food suppliers,’ stated the Sobeys letter to BIC.

Laura Bodell of Sherwood Park, Alberta, said Sobeys' response to BIC is not unlike the letter she received from the grocer in response to her own complaint about the Inspired article, sparked by similar reasons.

Bodell, a graphic designer who counts livestock producers among her clientele, noted the recently released study, ‘Clearing the air: livestock’s contribution to climate change’, by Dr. Frank Mitloehner of the University of California, concluded that the impact of meat and dairy production on the environment has been overstated in the oft-cited 2006 report, Livestock’s Long Shadow, from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

And although the Inspired piece on meat ends with the sentence: ‘Even better, you’ll be all the more appreciative of that juicy steak on Tuesday,’ Bodell doubted readers would get that far and would instead be left with a negative picture of livestock production.

“I don’t think that one sentence about a juicy steak balances out with several paragraphs speaking negatively against livestock production,” Bodell told Action News.

“When they say something negative about one of their products it certainly doesn’t help their suppliers, and it won’t help them in the long run.”

Bodell suggested livestock producers wanting to help Sobeys understand the article’s impact to suppliers email them at: compliments@sobeys.com.