May 27, 2004

Canadian Beef Consumption Up Despite Mad Cow Fears

Canadians ate more beef last year despite fears of mad-cow disease, a Statistics Canada study has found.

Per capita consumption rose 5 per cent, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday. Each Canadian ate 14.2 kilograms of beef in 2003, up from 13.5 kilograms the previous year.

"The numbers are not unexpected," said John Ross, assistant director of the red meat section at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, who had been informally tracking beef consumption.

"Consumers were supporting the product, continued to have faith and looked forward to eating it. ... It almost became your patriotic duty to help out," he added.

Export and domestic slaughter rates dropped drastically following a ban from numerous countries on Canadian beef products in May after a cow in northern Alberta tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). There are two possible factors contributing to the increase in beef consumption.

"The Canadian public rallied around the cause of beef farmers who were devastated by the BSE outbreak. Secondly, beef prices plunged in the last half of the year," the report said.

"If there has been one bright light in this entire wreck, it's been the consumer support, it would have been a wasteland if they hadn't stepped up," Mr. Ross said. "That's been really critical to the fact that we are surviving, particularly in the summer when we had no export opportunity."

The price of ground beef and lower cuts of beef began dropping in June and reached a low in September, the report says. Ground-beef prices fell at an average of 24 per cent from May to September. Prices for higher-valued beef cuts, however, remained the same because of the barbeque season and low import levels.

Meanwhile, pork consumption fell 9.6 per cent to 10.9 kilograms from 12.1 per Canadian.

"Lower prices for some beef helped prompt a shift from pork to beef," the report said.