Questions answered
There are 13 questions about “Animal feed” in the “How do you operate?” topic.
Click on a question to read our answer.
- 1. If you made your source beef animals eat things like onions would it make your burgers taste of whatever they ate.
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If the diet was heavily onion based, then it is likely that the meat would have an onion taste to it. Generally, the McDonald's cattle are fed a grass-based diet, grazing out doors, which is sometimes supplemented with cereals and cereal crops, for weather or dietary reasons. All farmers are required to keep up-to-date feed records for their cattle dating back three years.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 2. Do the suppliers of your beef use any growth hormones for their cattle? Isee an email regarding halal McDonalds, In your response it says you are currently lookinging into it. I sincerely hope you do not go this route. This barbaric practice has no place in our country.
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No. There are no growth hormones used in cattle production or feed. Hormones, meat and bone meal are banned in cattle feed throughout the UK and Europe.
JUNE '07 UPDATE: McDonald's trials Halal chicken at a restaurant in Southall, London. Click here for more information: http://www.makeupyourownmind.co.uk/our-halal-trial.html. (June 2007)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 3. What type of feed do the farmers use for the cattle that will ultimately be used in your products?
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Suppliers to McDonald's source beef from lots of different farms so it's difficult to say exactly what's in the feed for specific cattle. However each farm is required to provide an up-to-date feed plan and keep records of the feed used. McDonald's has very specific requirements about what shouldn't be fed to cattle used for beef. Generally cattle are fed on a grass based diet which is supplemented with cereals and cereal crops.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 4. I take your point in the 'Animal Welfare' section that currently producing chickens for meat in a free range environment is a small and specialist industry. However, this is simply down to the economics of supply and demand - and were a huge retailer like McDonalds to go to market requesting a free-range supplier for their chicken, these kinds of operations would pretty quickly spring into existance, would they not? Surely a massive opportunity for McDonalds to become a force for good?
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McDonald’s agrees with you and is continually reviewing the availability of free range chicken. The company will be taking this into account in future plans but currently, there still isn’t enough to supply McDonald’s needs.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 5. Are your chickens factory farm and fed chemicals to grow faster and bigger?
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No chemicals, antibiotic growth stimulants or hormones are fed to any animals used by McDonald's to produce its food: they are strictly forbidden under the McDonald's Agricultural Assurance Programme (MAAP). The British Poultry Council also sets high standards for chicken welfare which is monitored though a set a regulations called Assured Chicken Production (ACP). All suppliers that work with McDonald's must adhere to these standards and procedures. (June 2007)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 6. Do your farmers use any Genetically Modified animal feed? Do you use any Genetically Modified ingredients? Is is possible to have a personalised answer which actually answers my questions instead of the usual "we value your comment"?
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McDonald’s does not use any does not use any genetically modified (GM) ingredients in the food it serves.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 7. What goes into the animal feed for the Beef and Chicken that goes into your food?
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Generally, cattle grazing outdoors are fed a grass-based diet. Sometimes this is supplemented with cereals and cereal crops for weather or dietary reasons. All farmers are required to keep up-to-date feed records for their cattle dating back three years. Chickens produced for McDonald’s are fed on a cereal-based diet. All McDonald’s UK poultry suppliers are accredited by the nationally recognised Farm Assurance Scheme, Assured Chicken Production. This ensures full control over all aspects of chicken farming, including feed.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 8. are your chickens fed steroids to speed up groth cycle? what constitutes the diet of the chicken and what are their living conditions?
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No, there are no growth hormones or steroids used in rearing McDonald’s chickens. The British Poultry Council sets high standards of welfare in relation to the production of chicken, which is managed through a set of standards called Assured Chicken Production (ACP). Using steroids would contravene the ACP standards that McDonald’s endorses. Also, ACP ensures that the birds are well looked after and properly fed throughout their lifetime, and McDonald’s would refuse to take meat from any supplier that could not prove this was true of their animals.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 9. Hello. Are the beef cows grazed on grass or are they intensively reared? Thank you.
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Generally, cattle are fed a grass-based diet, grazing out doors, which is sometimes supplemented with cereals and cereal crops, for weather or dietary reasons. All farmers are required to keep up-to-date feed records for their cattle dating back three years.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 10. Iam happy with the statement that your burgers are 100% beef but what chemicals are fed to the cattle before slaughter.
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No, cattle are not fed any chemicals prior to slaughter. Throughout the cattle’s lifetime, McDonald’s has very specific requirements about what they should and shouldn’t be fed, and requires each farm to keep up-to-date feed plans recording what feed is used. Generally, cattle are fed a grass-based diet which is supplemented with cereals and cereal crops.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 11. Why do you allow the farmers who produce the chickens for you to feed their chickens on other remains of chickens, making them cannibals?
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This is not allowed. Chickens produced for McDonald’s are fed on a cereal based diet which does not contain any animal protein.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 12. Do you feed your cattle hormones or animal flour?
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No. Hormones, meat and bone meal are forbidden to be used in cattle feed in the UK and Europe.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 13. 100% Beef is used in your burgers with no additives what about the source of your supplier are the cattle all fed non GM also what about the cattles diet is it full of chemicals before slaughter, is the poor animal injected with God knows what growth hormone or some other treatmeant, Natural is best what ever you say I'm still suspicicious of what happens to the food before it even becomes food with the alarming rate of pesticides being used the food is slowly becomming toxic in unoticeable ways, can you give assurances that natural is your priority and I would say honesty in this area is a an absolute priority also when and if you declare this people will be watching for the subtlest evidence that you are not. be it on your own heads for the survival of your company
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No chemicals are fed to the cattle prior to slaughter, and antibiotic growth promoters or hormones are also strictly forbidden by the requirements of McDonald’s Agriculture Assurance Programme (MAAP). McDonald’s UK beef cattle are fed on a diet of grass, root crops and cereals. Occasionally young cattle may be fed a feed ration which may have a small amount of soya included to provide protein. This soya may come from GM crops grown in the USA or South America, depending on the harvest and availability. Please note that McDonald’s takes steps to make sure that it does not source from recently deforested areas. In the case of poultry, McDonald’s can confirm no birds are fed with such a feed. Please bear in mind that because the animals may be fed on GM soya, it doesn't mean that their derived meat and milk are genetically modified. The use of pesticides conforms to EU legislation and growers are required to use the minimum levels necessary to control any crop-threatening pests.
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