Questions answered

There are 2 questions about “Rainforest” in the “How do you operate?” topic.

Click on a question to read our answer.

1. How many acres of rainforest destruction are McDonalds responsible for with their unethical sourcing of products?
McDonald's is fully aware of the need to protect and preserve the environment, including the rainforests. The Company works globally with its suppliers to a policy of not taking cattle from recently deforested areas in the Amazon Rainforest. In addition, together with Greenpeace, McDonald's has engaged in discussions with other NGOs (non-governmental organisations), companies and the soya industry in Brazil to prevent further deforestation due to the production of soya for animal feed. The result of this work is an agreement by the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries and the National Association of Grain Exporters and their members not to trade soya from deforested areas within the Amazon as of October 2006. In addition, McDonald’s has joined the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform, which was created by the food industry to improve conditions for local communities. This great new initiative led McDonald's to change its coffee to Full Bean Rainforest Alliance Certified Coffee. This was chosen because the programme takes a holistic approach to supply chain sustainability. What this means is that because farms are certified based on social and environmental standards that guide farmers towards long-term sustainable farm management, the quality of the coffee produced is generally higher. This means that McDonald’s customers get competitively priced high quality Arabica coffee that has been produced under sustainable conditions according to standards that benefit coffee farmers and the environment. McDonald's firmly believes that the Rainforest Alliance's focus on social and environmental standards and sustainable farm management complements its own supply chain principles. If you would like further information on the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform, please visit the website at www.saiplatform.org, where you’ll find a section on coffee growing. You can also look out for more information in restaurants or at www.rainforest-alliance.org. (June 2009)

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2. I am a student doing a humanities course on rainforest destruction, if you could give me some information on where you get your products that would be very helpful.
Many thanks for your question. You may be aware that Greenpeace has raised concerns that some soya meal (being used by a broad range of food businesses) is being sourced from areas that have been illegally cleared in the Brazilian rainforest. As a company McDonald's takes steps to make sure that it does not source from recently deforested areas. After discussions with McDonald's, Greenpeace and other NGOs, the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries and the National Association of Grain Exporters and their members have agreed not to trade soya from deforested areas within the Amazon as of October 2006, signing a moratorium. The first year of this two-year moratorium has shown good and positive progress, and McDonalds is committed to making sure that this continues. To gather more information McDonald’s has several information packs that you may find useful. These have been designed to help address the type of questions that you may ask about the company operations. To take a look please visit www.mcdonalds.co.uk and go to the ‘Schools and Students’ section that can be found within the ‘About Us’ section. (Jan 09)

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