Newsletter
Newsletter
McDonald’s doesn’t stall on pig protection
McDonald’s Corporation has just announced that it will require its U.S. pork suppliers to outline their plans to phase out the use of sow gestation stalls, a move supported by The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
“McDonald’s believes gestation stalls are not a sustainable production system for the future.
There are alternatives that we think are better for the welfare of sows,” said Dan Gorsky, senior vice president of McDonald’s North America supply chain management. “McDonald’s wants to see the end of sow confinement in gestation stalls in our supply chain. We are beginning an assessment with our U.S. suppliers to determine how to build on the work already underway to reach that goal. In May, after receiving our suppliers’ plans, we’ll share results from the assessment and our next steps.”
“The HSUS has been a long-time advocate for ending the use of gestation crates, and McDonald’s announcement is important and promising,” said Wayne Pacelle, HSUS president and CEO. “All animals deserve humane treatment, including farm animals, and it’s just wrong to immobilise animals for their whole lives in crates barely larger than their bodies.”
A McDonald’s NZ spokesperson told Franchisexpo, “The issue around pork producers and their processes is a debate that has been ongoing in the United States, for some time. Here in New Zealand, we rely on our bacon suppliers to provide us with high quality products that meet relevant production standards. McDonald’s sources pork products that are primarily from Australia and Canada. It is one of the few products that McDonald’s does not source locally. We remain committed to working with suppliers and outside experts to continuously improve our standards and practices, both within McDonald’s and across the industry.”
McDonald’s actions are backed by leading independent animal welfare experts, including renowned scientist Dr. Temple Grandin. “Moving from gestation stalls to better alternatives will improve the welfare of sows and I’m pleased to see McDonald’s working with its suppliers toward that end. It takes a thorough plan to address the training of animal handlers, proper feeding systems, and the significant financial investment and logistics involved with such a big change. I’m optimistic about this announcement,” said Dr. Grandin.
Gorsky added, “We are pleased to see a number of our U.S. suppliers adopting commercially viable alternatives. For example, Smithfield Foods and Cargill have made significant progress in this area. We applaud these, and future efforts.”
This is the second action regarding animal welfare by the market leader in recent months. In November McDonald's announced it was dropping egg supplier Sparboe Farms following an investigative report unearthing animal cruelty practices.
At that time, Bob Langert, McDonald's vice president of sustainability, said: "McDonald's expects all of our suppliers to meet our stringent requirements for delivering high-quality food prepared in a humane and responsible manner... McDonald's wants to assure our customers that we demand humane treatment of animals by our suppliers. We take this responsibility – along with our customers' trust – very seriously."
A study by food industry consultancy Technomic ranked animal welfare as the third most-important social issue to restaurant patrons, and an American Farm Bureau-funded report found that 89 percent of Americans believe that food companies that require their suppliers to treat farm animals better are doing the right thing.