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Letter: A&W commercials misleading about Canadian beef production

Find out the facts about hormones, antibiotics, and A&W suppliers.

In regards to the misleading commercial that A&W has been running I would just like to throw out a few facts about our Canadian beef. Hormones are produced naturally in all animals so there is no such thing as hormone-free beef! Hormones are given at times to beef cattle to produce leaner meat at a lower cost to the consumer because it takes less time to fatten these cattle for slaughter, less cost to feed equals less cost passed on to the consumer. A 75 gram serving of beef from cattle treated with hormone implants contains two nanograms —that’s one billionth — of a gram of estrogen! Two slices of white bread has 45,000 nanograms of estrogen. One person would have to eat 3,000,000 hamburgers made with beef from implanted cattle to get as much estrogen as the average adult woman produces every day.

Now in regards to antibiotics, all beef must be antibiotic free before it is slaughtered. Depending on the type of antibiotic used, the withdrawal times will vary. Producers and vets work very hard to ensure that the proper antibiotic is used and only when necessary. If any cattle are slaughtered and there is residual antibiotics found in the meat, that carcass is destroyed.

So before you jump on the A&W bandwagon, maybe check out the facts first.

The other problem that I have with A&W is that they source their beef not only from Canada but as well as the U.S, Australia and New Zealand. This hurts our Canadian producers as well.

Until A&W gets rid of their misleading commercial and uses Canadian beef only, I for one, will not be eating there!

Shelley Currier, Lousana