July 16, 2020

US cattlemen cry foul over Burger King #CowsMenu campaign

US beef producers, particularly members of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), expressed disappointment over the launch Tuesday, July 14, of Burger King's #CowsMenu campaign that it claimed "misrepresents basic bovine biology".

In a statement released on the same day, NCBA CEO Colin Woodall said that while they recognise the burger chain's vital role in helping improve beef's sustainability and reducing its environmental footprint, "[u]nfortunately, Burger King has chosen a different path, relying on kitschy imagery that misrepresents basic bovine biology – cattle emissions come from burps, not farts – and on the potential impact of a single ruminant nutrition study that was so small and poorly conceived, it was dismissed by many leading NGOs and beef industry experts".

Burger King, owned by Canada-based Restaurant Brands International (RBI), bills its #CowsMenu" initiative as "a scalable solution with the potential to reduce cows' impact on climate change".

RBI on its website explained that greenhouse gas is released every time the cows burp and fart the methane gas out. Methane, it says, is considered a high contributor to global warming.

In its search for new diet for cow that could help them release less methane, RBI said they found that by adding 100 grammes of dried lemongrass leaves to the cows' daily feed, they were able to see a reduction of up to 33% on average of methane emissions during the period the diet was fed (the last three-to-four months of the cow's life in the case of their research).

In reference to RBI's statement based on estimates from the FAO that livestock is responsible for 14.5% of all human-induced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and that beef production accounts for 41% of those emissions, NCBA's Woodall cited the US Environmental Protection Agency's finding that the American cattle industry contributes a mere 2% of greenhouse emission.

Even then, Woodall said that cattle farmers and ranchers remain committed to continuous improvement and producing beef more sustainably.

"America's cattle producers are disappointed that Burger King has decided to follow a path that is misaligned with those who are already making real-world efforts to reduce beef's environmental footprint, opting instead to score easy points with consumers by launching a misleading public relations campaign", Woodall concluded his statement.

The NCBA is the marketing organisation and trade association for America's one million cattle farmers and ranchers, with offices in Denver and Washington, D.C.