Questions answered
There are 17 questions about “Animal welfare” in the “How do you operate?” topic.
Click on a question to read our answer.
- 1. How old are the animals when they are slaughtered? And is there a reason for a certain age?
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Thank you for your question. All animals entering the McDonald’s supply chain must meet our specifications on traceability, animal health and welfare, and the origin of where the animal is reared. The age requirement for beef animals entering McDonald’s supply chain is a minimum of eight months, the age of beef animals at slaughter varies greatly as there are many options available to farmers in rearing cattle. McDonald’s do not accept beef animals into their supply chain younger than eight months as these are classed as veal. Pigs must be at least three months old, and not older than six months, typically they are slaughtered between four and five months. Pigs younger than three months old are classed as piglets, and have not matured for slaughter, again the upper age limit is in line with the food retail industry. The age of chicken at slaughter can range from 35 to 43 days old, but on average the birds would be 42 days, this is the industry standard for chicken meat. (December 2010)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 2. hi, i need to know is all your meat suppliers for mc donalds who slaughters meat do they follow any particural religion practicise i.e christian,jews or muslims?when they slaughter meat?
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Thanks for your question. McDonald’s specification does not require any religious procedures during the slaughtering process.
This process differs for each animal but it is along the lines of:
The stunning of animals is the first stage in the slaughter of animals and is part of the killing process. There are several approved methods of stunning that may be used depending on the circumstances and the type of animal being slaughtered. Whatever the method, the animal must be immediately rendered insensible to pain, or reduce insensibility in a manner that does not cause pain, excitement or distress. Immediately after stunning, the animal must be bled and depending on the animal, there are very specific times that must be followed to allow for completion of the process. The welfare of animals during slaughter is protected by law and these laws are enforced. It is therefore a requirement for companies such as McDonald’s to ensure that their meat is supplied by processers who uphold the laws and ensure that they slaughter animals in a humane manner. McDonald’s have high standards in place which ensure that the slaughtering of animals destined for its products is carried out in a humane and compassionate manner and this is being constantly monitored by qualified personnel.
(December 2010)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 3. During slaughtering process how do you get the cattle stunned before their main artery is cut. It would be highly appreciated if you could tell me more about the stunning process.
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The majority of abattoirs that supply McDonald's beef in the UK use a captive bolt to stun the animal. There are a small number that use electric stunning. Both methods comply with the high standards of animal welfare required by McDonald's under advisement from UK and European legislation as well as animal experts. The company simply will not work with any supplier that does not adhere to these high standards. All abattoirs must be EU-approved and all are under the care of qualified vets and health inspectors.
(November 2009)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 4. why don t you guys just pls start doing a delivery service to UK addresses?
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Many factors have to be taken into account to provide a delivery service, for example the length of time taken for the staff to reach their destinations to ensure hot fresh food in the quickest time. As a company, McDonald's feels that it could not adequately meet these goals at the present time.
(October 2009)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 5. Hei, I love McDonalds food, but Im just wondering, how are your Pigs farmed? Are they factory farmed? Or outdoor reared on British Farms? Please email back Many thanks Nia :)
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Thank you for your question. McDonald’s uses cuts of trimmed, cured and sliced pork belly for bacon. The sausage patties are made from prime cuts of pork and lightly seasoned with herbs. All of the Pork used by McDonald's UK is sourced from the British Isles. The Pigs are farmed to comply with the ABP (Assured British Pork) Standards. (Feb 09)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 6. how is your meat and chicken killed? it is electricuted or slaughtered.
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Thank you for your question. All of the chickens used by McDonald's are stunned immediately prior to slaughter. At this point the birds are unconscious; they are not killed by the stunning process itself. With regards to cattle, the cattle are unloaded at the abattoir and then carefully inspected under veterinary supervision to make sure each animal is fit for slaughter. They are then individually walked through to a pen where they are stunned before their main artery is cut. They will die in a matter of seconds and do not feel a thing during this process.
McDonald’s has the very highest standards in place to ensure that the rearing and slaughter of poultry and cattle is carried out in the most humane and compassionate manner currently on offer in any given country and is monitored by qualified personnel and independent vets. McDonald’s will not work with any supplier that does not adhere to both the internal requirements created in conjunction with independent animal welfare experts alongside those required by UK and EU legislation.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 7. It is true that Maccas beef is sourced from feed lot cattle. These cattle are put under inhumane conditions. There is a serious ethical issue with this. Also the McDonalds corporation finds it necessary to have several pictures in the right top of my screen of cattle in wide open paddocks with green lushes grass. This is false advertising and obviously put there to fool the customers. Shame on you.
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Thank you for your question. McDonald's UK only uses beef sourced from British and Irish producers. McDonald’s source cattle through suppliers from a number of abattoirs throughout the British Isles. These are strategically located in cattle-producing parts of the country. .McDonald's insist that each one of its suppliers must meet its very high animal welfare standards and is further enforced by the McDonald's Quality Assurance Team, several of whom are fully qualified animal welfare officers. They regularly inspect all aspects of the food supply chain to ensure the animals are well looked after throughout their lifetime. Standards laid down in the McDonald’s Agriculture Assurance Programme clearly state how animals must be cared for, including the provision of feed, bedding, shelter, lighting and comfort. The minimum farm assurance standard that cattle are kept to is Assured British Meats (ABM).
With regards to the images of cows on the Make Up Your Own Mind website. The beef cattle that are reared for McDonald’s meat are often kept in the fields outside during spring and summer, and in winter they may be kept in barns. Why not have a look at the Quality Scout farm visit reports on this website and find out more.
(March 2009)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 8. why would you kill animals for food?
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The nature of McDonald's business is such that there is the inevitable death of some animals. The company is aware of this. However, this should not suggest that McDonald’s is insensitive or does not respect animals and their welfare.
Animal welfare issues are considered every single day by the farms and suppliers that produce McDonald’s food. Standards laid down in the McDonald’s Agriculture Assurance Programme clearly state how animals must be cared for, including the provision of feed, bedding, shelter, lighting and comfort. Although McDonald’s is primarily a non-vegetarian restaurant, it is a customer focused business, with the company aiming to stay up-to-date with what its customers want. In that respect, much like many supermarkets and other restaurant chains, McDonald’s is simply endeavouring to meet the demands of many of its customers. Meanwhile, there have been many requests that McDonald’s provides more options for vegetarians, and so several items have been introduced onto the menu including carrot sticks and fruit bags, ensuring there is plenty of choice for everyone.
(Feb 2009)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 9. Why do you feed people this propaganda? There's a reason why your stores were smashed during the WTO Conference in 1999. Get off of our planet, you have no use. How can you justify slaughtering animals for profit? As if murdering animals wasn't bad enough, the conditions the animals go through are appalling and you should be ashamed of yourself as a human being working for an evil corporation.
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Whilst McDonald's cannot comment on political matters, at its heart the company is in the business of making and serving food, primarily non-vegetarian food and as such the death of cattle and chickens is an unavoidable part of this. McDonald’s does care very much about how the animals are treated prior to slaughter, and animal issues are considered every single day by the farms and suppliers that produce McDonald’s food. Standards laid down in the McDonald’s Agriculture Assurance Programme clearly state how animals must be cared for, including the provision of feed, bedding, shelter, lighting and comfort.
The company's insistence that each one of its suppliers must meet its very high animal welfare standards is further enforced by the McDonald's Quality Assurance Team, several of whom are fully qualified animal welfare officers. They regularly inspect all aspects of the food supply chain to ensure the animals are healthy, properly fed and well looked after throughout their lifetime. With regards to the Make Up Your Own Mind site itself, it is certainly not trying to feed propaganda to the public. McDonald's takes pride in the food and service it provides.
However, as a recognised brand leader in its industry, there is a lot of negativity surrounding the company and McDonald's wanted to do something about it. So the Make Up Your Own Mind was conceived, giving not only McDonald's the opportunity to educate people about its business, but allowing people just like you to question, probe and really get to the bottom line on all things McDonald's. With this in mind, the answers published on this site simply state the honest facts, nothing more and nothing less. Innovations like the Independent Quality Scout programme are a further example of how the company is offering a new level of transparency. This open dialogue with customers has led to many improvements in the service and food, such as the introduction of a more varied menu, the cutting down of salt and the use of a specially and formulated new non-hydrogenated cooking oil. However there is always room for improvement and with this in mind McDonald’s is committed to evolving throughout its business to become a more responsible company.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 10. Animal Killers! I love animals and i am very nervous to find out how you keep and slaughter you animals. Please tell me they DONT Suffer!
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McDonald's is in the business of making and serving food, primarily non-vegetarian food and as such the death of cattle and chickens is an unavoidable part of this. However, this should not suggest that McDonald's does not care about how these animals are treated before slaughter; in fact the treatment of animals and their welfare is very important to the company. Animal welfare issues are considered every single day by the farms and suppliers that produce McDonald’s food. Standards laid down in the McDonald’s Agriculture Assurance Programme clearly state how animals must be cared for, including the provision of feed, bedding, shelter, lighting and comfort. The company's insistence that each one of its suppliers must meet its very high animal welfare standards is further enforced by the McDonald's Quality Assurance Team, several of whom are fully qualified animal welfare officers. They regularly inspect all aspects of the food supply chain to ensure the animals are healthy, properly fed and well looked after throughout their lifetime. With regards to the way the cattle are slaughtered, the abattoir use a captive bolt to stun the animal. A small number use electric stunning and with poultry electric stunning is most commonly used. Both methods comply with the high standards of animal welfare required by McDonald's under advisement from UK and European legislation as well as animal experts. All abattoirs must be EU-approved and all are under the care of qualified vets and health inspectors.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 11. Are you kind to your animals before going to the slaughter house,do they have good living conditions. Do You Use Humane slaughter methods
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McDonald's is in the business of making and serving food, primarily non-vegetarian food and as such the death of cattle and chickens is an unavoidable part of this. However, the company does very much care about how these animals are treated before slaughter; in fact the treatment of animals and their welfare is very important to the company. Animal welfare issues are considered every single day by the farms and suppliers that produce McDonald’s food. Standards laid down in the McDonald’s Agriculture Assurance Programme clearly state how animals must be cared for, including the provision of feed, bedding, shelter, lighting and comfort. The company's insistence that each one of its suppliers must meet its very high animal welfare standards is further enforced by the McDonald's Quality Assurance Team, several of whom are fully qualified animal welfare officers. They regularly inspect all aspects of the food supply chain to ensure the animals are healthy, properly fed and well looked after throughout their lifetime. With regards to the slaughter of animals, the majority of abattoirs use a captive bolt to stun the animal. There are a small number that use electric stunning. Both methods comply with the high standards of animal welfare required by McDonald's under advisement from UK and European legislation as well as animal experts. All abattoirs must be EU-approved and all are under the care of qualified vets and health inspectors.
(December 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 12. you say that your chickens are kept in good conditions. welll ive heard that you keep more than 15 chickens in a square metre! tell me if this is faulse or true please.
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It may interest your to know that McDonald’s are currently looking at the option of arranging a quality scout visit to the chicken farms in the future, so please keep checking back on the site. For your reassurance, chickens raised for McDonald’s meat products are called broilers and are reared in barns which are monitored to the standards set by the ACP (Assured Chicken Production) protocol. These standards state that the maximum stocking density is 38kg/m2, it also states that all birds must have sufficient space to walk, turn, sit, preen, and flap/stretch their wings and dustbathe. The ACP protocol ensures full control over all aspects of chicken farming, including feed and animal welfare. McDonald's insists that all of its suppliers adhere to very strict standards of animal welfare and independent audits are conducted on a regular basis. No animal used in the McDonald's supply chain is ever caged. All the chicken used is traceable right back to the farms on which the birds were raised. Suffice to say McDonald’s does care about the way its animals are treated and will not deal with any supplier that does not meet the company’s high standard of animal welfare.
(August 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 13. You recently had a question refering to the jamie oliver show and this was in your response: The chicken meat is also traceable right back to the farms on which the birds were raised and the standards and procedures strictly monitored. I would like to know the qulaity of life the chickens have before slaughter, to what standards are they raised as you do not specify, what are the actual procedures and standards of the live birds in which you are supplied with?
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Animal welfare is a very sensitive and important issue taken very seriously by McDonald’s. Animal welfare issues are considered every single day by the farms and suppliers that produce McDonald’s food. Standards laid down in the McDonald’s Agriculture Assurance Programme clearly state how animals must be cared for, including the provision of feed, bedding, shelter, lighting and comfort. The Minimum standards that the Chickens are produced to is that of the Associated Chicken Production (ACP). The company also insists that each one of its suppliers meet McDonald's own very high animal welfare standards . This is further enforced by the McDonald's Quality Assurance Team, several of whom are fully qualified animal welfare officers. They regularly inspect all aspects of the food supply chain to ensure the animals are healthy, properly fed and well looked after throughout their lifetime. This year McDonald’s UK were awarded an RSPCA Award for commitment to improving animal welfare.
(December 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 14. do you think cows are living beings? i mean cmon why do you eat living beings thats so gross...
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McDonald's is in the business of making and serving food, primarily non-vegetarian food and as such the death of cattle and chickens is an unavoidable part of this. However, this should not suggest that McDonald's does not care about how these animals are treated before slaughter; in fact the treatment of animals and their welfare is very important to the company. Standards laid down in the McDonald’s Agriculture Assurance Programme clearly state how animals must be cared for, including the provision of feed, bedding, shelter, lighting and comfort. The company's insistence that each one of its suppliers must meet its very high animal welfare standards is further enforced by the McDonald's Quality Assurance Team, several of whom are fully qualified animal welfare officers. They regularly inspect all aspects of the food supply chain to ensure the animals are healthy, properly fed and well looked after throughout their lifetime. However, the company realises you are entitled to your own opinion and respects that.
(December 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 15. How would a dairy cow react if you gave it a Hamburger?
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Animals should be fed on a diet that is best suited to them and generally not food that they wouldn't normally acquire in their natural state or habitat. The cattle used by McDonald’s are fed on a diet ranging from grass and straw, to a variety of cereals, maize and root crops, and are not fed anything which would make them ill. Additionally Cattle are herbivores and have a digestive system that has evolved to deal with plant material, and therefore consuming meat would probably have a negative effect on a cow’s health. If you would like to find out more about the cattle used by McDonald’s, please follow the Quality Scout reports by following the ‘Quality Scout’ link on this site.
(July 2008)
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