The McDonald's restaurant chain and the cattle industry in Canada are denouncing an email that claims there's a problem with the Canadian beef supply. (Keith Srakocic/Associated Press)

The Canadian Cattlemen's Association and the McDonald's restaurant chain are denouncing an email making the rounds that suggests there's a problem with the country's beef supply.

The electronic note claims the hamburger-maker is making plans to buy beef from South America.

"This email chain is a hoax," McDonald's said in a news release issued Tuesday. It said the note contained a number of false claims and was similar to other bogus emails that had circulated in the past in different parts of the United States.

It said a Canadian version of the email surfaced earlier this year.

Beef producers say the issue is important because of the volume of sales to the fast food giant.

"This one is so blatantly untrue," Brad Wildeman, president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association and a feedlot operator in Saskatchewan, told CBC News.

"[McDonald's] is our No. 1 customer," Wildeman said. "And we just don't think it's fair to target either the beef industry … or one of our major customers with outright lies."

According to McDonald's, the restaurant serves about 2.5 million customers every day in Canada. It buys 30 million kilograms of locally raised beef per year.

"I've been to McDonald's processing units," Wildeman said. "They are first class. Extremely clean. Very rigorous inspection."

McDonald's said that in the past it has purchased small quantities of beef from New Zealand, Australia and the United States, for its Canadian restaurants, but that it had always sourced the vast majority of beef locally.