Fast food giant McDonald's is using imported beef in its products.

See the email here.

Yes.

McDonald's will be using imported beef in its beef patties in a limited trial at 400 of its 13,000 restaurants. But it's Australian and New Zealand beef that will be used, not South American beef as the email claims.

McDonald's says it is using foreign beef because there is insufficient lean beef produced in the U.S. to meet its demands. Beef producers counter there is enough lean beef produced in the U.S. but McDonald's prefers the lower cost Australian and New Zealand beef and charge that the beef is lower quality.

Australian and New Zealand beef does tend to be leaner than American beef since it tends to be grass-fed, unlike grain and corn-fed American herds. Australian and New Zealand ranchers counter that their beef is better than American lean beef since it is predominantly drawn from grass-fed beef cattle, rather than past-their-prime dairy cattle that makes up most of US lean beef production.

In spite of the fervent plea to FORWARD THIS IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO EVERYONE, the Urban Legend Zeitgeist doesn't see a direct connection between forwarding email and changing McDonald's decision.

Forwarding the email may alert consumers to the practice, but given the extensive coverage of the decision (see the links below), those most directly affected by it, the agricultural community, are well aware of it.

The Urban Legend Zeitgeist suspects that a letter to McDonald's would have a much greater impact than forwarding an email to ten people.

Here are a few more factoids to throw into the grinder:

16% of beef consumed in the U.S. is imported.

Australian and New Zealand beef imports are limited by quotas. Both countries are expected to meet their import quotas this year, as they have in past years, but neither McDonald's nor any other company has petitioned for the quotas to be raised.

McDonald's is one of the last U.S. fast food chains to use foreign beef.

• Beef producers wary of McDonald's fallout from the Des Moines Register
• Ranchers upset with McDonald's decision to buy imported beef from WFAA Dallas-Fort Worth Channel 8
• Washington farmers have beef with imported meat: Food fight ensues over labeling from the Seattle Times
• LMA [Livestock Marketing Association] Protests Against Potential McDonald's Beef Imports from the Livestock Marketing Association
• McDonald's serving foreign beef from the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union

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