Earls restaurants' move to drop Alberta beef provokes backlash

An announcement on Tuesday thatVancouver-based Earls restaurant chainwill start getting allof its beef from a U.S. supplierprovokeda fast and furious backlash.

The companysaid it tried to use Alberta beef, but there was not enough that isCertified Humane, a designation now required by Earls.

Certified Humane is a program operated byVirginia-based Humane Farm Animal Care. It includesinspections of farms, ranches and slaughter facilities and certifies meat and dairy products.

According to the organization, products that carry theCertified Humanelabel come from animals that have not received "unnecessary antibiotics," are not overcrowded in confinement systems and live on farms whose farmers "receive a fair price fortheir efforts."

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Earls announced the change on Wednesday.

"We did intensive research and testing for over two years trying to use Certified Humane beef from Alberta, raised without antibiotics, steroids or growth hormones, of which there are some great suppliers in Canada and we did use it in our Edmonton and Calgary locations as well as our flagship locations across Canada for well over two years," the chain said in a statement.

"However, there was (and is) simply not enough Certified Humane, antibiotic-, steroid-free beef in Alberta to meet the volume we use, and those we tried were unable to consistently meet our supply needs, not even a portion of it."

Earls will instead go with a U.S. supplier.

The restaurant's tweet announcing the change prompteddozens of replies andmost aren't favourable, with many threatening a boycott of the Canadian chain.

Former federal Conservative cabinet minister Monte Solberg jumped in on Twitteras well.

Earls says it's open to using Canadian beef if it can find a supplier that can keep up with the volume it needs.

Earls, founded in 1982, has about 7,000 employees at 65 locations in Canada and the United States.