Questions answered
There are 128 questions about “Suppliers” in the “How do you operate?” topic.
Click on a question to read our answer.
- 1. what type of materials are used ?
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Thanks for posting your question, however, could you please repost and provide a little clarification as to what it is you would like to know and the team will happily answer your question. Thank you.
(October 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 2. Who is McDonalds supplier for their chicken breast and can th nuggetts be purchased by the case thank u
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McDonald's chicken comes from two suppliers in the UK: Sun Valley and Moy Park. For further information, you might be interested in listening to a recent interview conducted by one of the Quality Scouts with members of staff at Moy Park. In answer to your other question, McDonald's Chicken McNuggets are not available to purchase other than in McDonald's restaurants, sorry.
(October 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 3. My friend told me that not only do you keep your chickens in cages, but you also keep them wrapped in tinfoil whilst they are still still alive, is there any truth in this? My friend is always right.
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You’ll be happy to know that your friend is wrong on this occasion. The chickens used by McDonald's for some of its food items are from poultry reared on farms that are required to meet McDonald's Agricultural Assurance standards. Approved suppliers must have a fully integrated supply chain to ensure full control over all aspects of McDonald's chicken farming standards, including feed and animal welfare. Still not convinced? Then check out the report of Charlotte Haile, an independent Quality Scout who had access to a supplier of McDonald's nuggets and reported back on all her findings. You can see and hear about her visit by clicking the 'Watch their Reports' link on this site.
(June 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 4. On your 'quality scout' reports, all the scouts reporting on beefburgers are sent to cattle farms. However, the scout reporting on chicken nuggets went to a production facility, but not a farm. Why was this? Is it because the chicken you use is intensively farmed and you are ashamed about it?
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No, McDonald's is not ashamed about how its food is sourced and produced. The company is actually very proud of its high standards, which is partly why the Make Up Your Own Mind web site was set up - to provide an honest look behind the scenes. The Quality Scouts started looking at the areas which have attracted the most interest, and beef is obviously a very important part of McDonald's business. But there are other areas of the food chain of course, and these will be covered as the web site is developed.
Regarding chickens raised for meat production, yes, they are raised indoors in large roomy barns, but McDonald's is not ashamed of this. The welfare of the animals is considered at every stage 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 lives.
(May 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 5. Dear MC Donalds I read that there is no one at the moment who can offer you free range birds because of the quantity you need, but surley a company of your size could offer at least one meal/burger with the free range option? At least people would then have a chioce and for people like me it would mean the difference between actually buying or not buying from your company.
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McDonald’s is making every effort to look at commercially-viable volumes of free range chicken, through the Food Animal Initiative which it co-sponsors. However, it is not as easy as it sounds. To implement such a change across all UK restaurants would take a monumental amount of planning and research.
The company buys around 4.7 million chickens from British farmers and farmers in mainland Europe, with the rest coming from Brazil. As you alluded to, current free range suppliers would not be able to produce the necessary amount of poultry fast enough, even for a single free range chicken product. As demands and tastes change, there is a strong possibility that McDonald's could introduce free range poultry meat for its products much like the free range change it made for its eggs. However, customer demand and broader changes in the marketplace would play a large part in this decision.
(May 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 6. Are all of the animals that are intended for consumption in McDonald's restaurants free range or are they permanently kept indoors? If all of the animals are free range then for how long have they been kept free range?
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The terms 'battery' and 'free range' are only used in relation to egg producing chickens. The chickens used for McDonald's eggs are all free range. The chickens used for meat are not free range, but they are reared under conditions that meet high standards and are monitored by the Assured Chicken Production regulations. McDonald's will not work with any supplier who does not adhere to the company's high standards, and those required by UK and EU legislation. In addition, McDonald's works with internationally renowned welfare experts to ensure best practices are in place. All animals reared by McDonald’s for the production of food are treated with respect and kept in the best possible conditions. The dairy cows that supply milk for McDonald’s are kept indoors in the winter and allowed to graze in the summer when the conditions are suitable. The pigs used for bacon and sausage products are mostly kept indoors, although some are outdoor-reared. Beef cattle generally are grass-fed and graze throughout the year. They are kept indoors during the winter months when there is not enough feed or suitable land to keep them outdoors.
You can find out more about how the animals live, here on this site, by checking out the independent Quality Scout report from Kym Norman. Kym Norman, a Health and Safety Director and dad, went to visit one of McDonald’s free range egg suppliers near Penrith. You can read his report, see his interviews with key personnel, see pictures of his visit and watch video too. Just click the 'Meet the scouts' link in the Quality Scout section.
(May 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 7. My friend told me that your chickens were grown in a Jurassic Park-like environment for their size. Could you please confirm as to whether or not this is the case?
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This is not the case.
(September 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 8. Hi, do you know anything about the purchasing of goods with mcdonald's, for example, what do they buy e.g, frozen or cooked, dry goods? do they have local deliveries?. i am currently doing a school project and some information would be helpful. Thanks miss a lelliot
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Sorry for the very slow response to your question. Some questions slipped through the net, so thank you for your patience. McDonald's buys a mix of chilled, frozen and dry goods. The chilled items tend to be dairy products, sauces and produce. The frozen items are the beef, bacon, chicken, fish and French fries. The buns are freshly baked, so they are ambient as are other items and ingredients such as coffee, tea and Coca-Cola. All the products are delivered from the suppliers into a central distribution system which is dedicated to McDonald’s. The distribution company has three depots which are strategically located around the country to make sure that the journeys to the restaurants are as short as possible.
(May 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 9. I asked a question last week approximetly how long does it take to get a reply. Also how do you know that all the beef you recieve is forequarter and flank and not accidently any thing else? Do your butchers check each piece or just the occassional random piece.
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Thank you for posting, and apologies for any inconvenience that may have been caused with the delay in answering your question. As you can probably imagine, there is a lot of interest in McDonald's and the Make Up Your Own Mind site. Over 14,000 questions have been asked and more are being asked daily. The team are all working hard, and endeavour to try and answer all questions as quickly as possible. If you need the answer to your question with more urgency, please feel free to post in again. OK, regarding the cuts of beef. McDonald's have very high standards, and will only work with suppliers that meet our high standards of quality and food hygiene and safety. All beef is sourced, other than in exceptional periods of demand, from farms in the British Isles and Ireland, and is thoroughly checked for its quality. The beef is specially butchered at the suppliers and is then checked again by trained inspectors before it goes into burger production. Indeed, each box of patties has a production code that can be traced all the way back to the source farm. You might like to take a look at the Quality Scout reports by clicking on the 'Watch Their Reports' link on this site. They give a full picture of the entire beef supply chain from field to restaurant as well as specific reports on animal welfare.
(January 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 10. considering you cull 14.6 million chickens per year i rather doubt that they are living a nice life! To get that number of birds they would need to be grown in a barn factory where where there can be up 19 birds per s/m. As 93 % of all chickens are reared this way, im sure yours come from these ''factories''. maybe we should take some pics of these real barn factories and not the ones you post as positive publicity!
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McDonald’s would never attempt to mislead its customers or the public with pictures that do not represent the truth. In the UK, the chickens are required to be bred to the Assured Chicken Production Standards (ACP) which is the Red Tractor farm assurance scheme; yes, they are raised in barns. However, they are professionally managed by dedicated farm producers who care about their livestock. The number of birds is strictly managed according to the age, weight and sex of the bird with maximum limits set by McDonald's. These measures are established by diligent research by renowned independent animal welfare experts. The chickens’ welfare is very important to McDonald's and its suppliers, and to make sure that the chickens are looked after, they have standards in place which the producers must adhere to. The farms are independently inspected and closely monitored by veterinary staff throughout the life of the chickens. When the chickens are dispatched for slaughter, they are all inspected by veterinary personnel to confirm their health and again, each bird in the flock is inspected when it is slaughtered to identify if there have been any welfare issues that need to be investigated.
(January 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 11. You have responded that the cost of free range chicken meat is prohibitive, but your food is so very cheap and you still make a huge profit. (2005 = £36.9m) Why don't you shock all the nay sayers and move entirely to free range chicken meat, charge a little more for it and make a little less profit, just like you did with free range eggs. If you move to free range chicken meat, you will lead the fast food industry and I will start buying your food for the first time in years.
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A very interesting question that is being widely debated in the media, with opinions being supported on both sides. As you have mentioned, McDonald’s has been involved in researching the possibilities of producing free range meat for consumption with its meals and as you are likely to be aware, pricing issues have been raised. Many people have criticised the company over this issue and the company has not always had the opportunity to explain in a little more detail the pricing variables. There are huge differences in the costs of producing free range chickens, compared with more common farming systems. McDonald's UK has seriously looked at all the current available options, and currently there aren’t enough farms to supply the birds, and there just isn't enough land in the UK for all the chicken houses and fields required. In the meantime, McDonald's, like other responsible food businesses, is concentrating on working with producers and welfare experts to provide and good welfare conditions for the birds that allow them to display their natural behavior in comfortable surroundings.
(January 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 12. Where do your free range eggs come from and how do you check on conditions
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McDonald’s works with a few different suppliers when it comes to its free range eggs. One of the major ones is called the Lakes Free Range Egg Company, which is based in Stainton Cumbria. All the eggs that are supplied to McDonald's are produced by farmers to the Lion Code and Freedom Foods standards. The farms are independently audited by the Lion code and Freedom Foods auditors to ensure that the hens are properly cared for. Each egg is given a unique code, stamped on its shell, which means it can be traced back to the farmer. When it comes to the welfare of the chickens, McDonald’s has some of the highest standards and strictest procedures in place throughout its entire supply chain. McDonald's will not work with any supplier who does not adhere to the company's high standards, and those required by UK and EU legislation. If you'd like to see this for yourself, you can find more by clicking on the ‘Quality Scouts’ link and viewing the report and video by independent Scout Kym Norman on his visit to the Lakes Free Range Egg Company.
(January 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 13. Who are the suppliers that McDonalds deal with in Egypt?
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Thank you for posting in - Make Up Your Own Mind has been created to answer questions and provide information relating to McDonald's restaurants in the UK. However, if you want to find out more information relating to McDonald's in Egypt visit http://www.mcdonalds.com/countries/egypt.html.
(May 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 14. what company manufactures McDonald's apple and cherry pies
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McDonald's uses a bespoke supplier called Kitchen Range Foods. Thanks for your question.
(May 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 15. where abouts is you uk meat factory where the burgers are produced beford going out to the mcdonalds resturants
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McDonald's uses a dedicated supplier in the UK, called Esca. Its production plant is located at Scunthorpe.
(May 2008)
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