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Aussie’s got beef? Australian supermarkets, fast food joints don’t want American beef

August 6, 2025 | | Print Article

Australian supermarkets and fast-food chains are rejecting American beef after restrictions barring their usage were rolled back.

Because of a 2003 outbreak of mad cow disease in the U.S., Australia instituted strict biosecurity laws suspending imports of U.S. beef.

Over a decade later, in 2019, Australia lifted some of its biosecurity restrictions, but only on American beef from cattle literally born, raised, and killed in the United States. Beef from cattle born in Canada or Mexico but processed in America still remained banned.

This all changed last month, when Australia finally agreed to accept all U.S. beef, including beef from cattle born in Canada or Mexico.

U.S. President Donald Trump celebrated the decision:

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, meanwhile, released a statement attributing the new policy to the president’s acumen.

“This is yet another example of the kind of market access the President negotiates to bring America into a new golden age of prosperity, with American agriculture leading the way,” she said. “It’s absurd that non-scientific trade barriers prevented our beef from being sold to consumers in Australia for the last 20 years.”

But it appears the celebration was premature.

The grocery chains Woolworths, Coles, and Aldi, in addition to the fast-food chain McDonald’s, have all since vowed not to import U.S. beef now that it’s available, according to news.com.au.

“Aldi, Coles, McDonald’s and Woolworths all say Australian customers will be eating homegrown beef,” instead, news.com.au reported.

“We apply an Australia-first approach, and 100 per cent of our fresh red meat is sourced directly from Australian farmers, with whom we have longstanding relationships,” a Woolworths spokesperson told the outlet.

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“We’ll continue to source 100 per cent Aussie beef for our menu and provide our customers with the great taste, quality, and value they know and love,” a McDonald’s spokesperson likewise said.

There’s supposedly a valid reason for this preference.

“U.S. and Australian beef also tastes different,” Reuters notes. “Many Australians like the grass-fed beef raised there, not marbled beef from U.S.-raised cattle that are generally fed with grain.”

There’s also the fact that the U.S. is reportedly suffering from a beef shortage.

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“We can’t get enough beef in the U.S. right now, so we’re bringing it in from Australia and Brazil,” independent U.S. livestock trader Dan Norcini told Reuters. “We’re not going to be selling anything significant to anyone.”

“We just aren’t in a position to export much beef to anyone, and the reality is Australia doesn’t really have much need for U.S. beef,” Karl Setzer, a partner at Consus Ag., added.

All this comes amid controversy surrounding Trump’s trade war and tariffs.

Australia’s opposition party has claimed that the ruling party only lifted its biosecurity restrictions to get a better tariff rate from Trump.

Kevin Hogan, the deputy leader of the Nationals (one of the opposition groups), accused his country’s government of using “our science-based biosecurity standards as a bargaining chip.”

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“We have the US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer directly connecting this decision to the US-Australia trade relationship, but the Albanese Government is saying the complete opposite,” he said, according to The Guardian.

News.com.au notes that following Australia’s change in biosecurity policy, Trump “slapped Australia with the lowest of its universal tariff rates, applying a 10 per cent levy on Australian exports.”

Australian farmers have also raised some concerns, but for different reasons:

They’re mainly worried that allowing beef from cattle born in Mexico or Canada will ruin the country’s “clean and green” reputation.

In fact, Cattle Australia, the country’s peak body representing the grass-fed cattle industry, has called for an independent scientific panel to review the federal government’s decision to lift biosecurity restrictions.

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Vivek Saxena
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