CCA celebrates as Health Canada steps back from meat labeling

Jul 04, 2022

The Canadian Cattlemen's Association was one of many organizations that had an opinion on the recent decision to put saturated fat warnings on ground beef and pork products by Health Canada.

The label would have gone on all ground beef and pork, including lean and very lean varieties.

Their "Don't Label My Beef" campaign was one of the factors which ended up reverting that decision.

Reg Schellenberg, the president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association says that the change was helped out by all of the people who contributed their voices.

"We recognize that consumers, customers, producers, and provincial organizations all weighed in on the conversation and that had a huge impact on the success of the entire campaign."

Schellenberg says the original proposition didn't make sense, considering what was and wasn't set to be labeled by the new regulation.

"Single-ingredient proteins like ground beef and pork should not be categorized as something that is harmful to consume. Highly processed foods and ultra-processed foods compose 40% of the saturated fats that Canadians consume.

"75% of the ground beef sold in Canada is lean or extra lean, so I guess our concern is why would they include single ingredient proteins."

The Canadian Cattlemen's Association, along with other organizations, put out a statement thanking the people who helped revert the labeling on Thursday."

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.