Food Quality & Sourcing
Creating a Future of Secure and Sustainable Food That Has a Positive Impact
Our Priority ESG Issues
Strict food safety standards and protocols are embedded in everything we do, from food and product sourcing, menu development, packaging and distribution to the running of our restaurants.
We are always listening to our customers and evaluating our menu to identify ways to evolve our offerings while maintaining the great taste our customers know and love. McDonald’s will continue to take a responsible approach to our Happy Meals by offering balanced options and promoting menu items that contribute to recommended food groups, such as fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy.
The road between a great McDonald’s menu item and a delighted customer is long and complex. Our global supply chain spans countries, continents and industries. We approach responsible sourcing holistically, understanding that our work impacts the livelihoods of people, the health of our shared planet and the well-being of animals. We believe we must respect them all.
Serving safe, quality food relies on animals that are properly cared for throughout their lives. At McDonald’s, this includes both animal welfare and responsible antibiotic use. We remain focused on the positive impact we can have by working with our suppliers.
Learn how we aim to preserve and regenerate nature, support biodiversity and engage the communities and farmers closest to natural ecosystems, as well as how we are building business resilience into our business in a changing world. We are also committed to respecting the human rights of the people who work for us, directly and across our supply chain.
Recent Highlights
Food Safety
- 2,000+ farmers globally on McDonald’s Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) standards.
- 2,077 third-party audits performed according to our Supplier Quality Management System (SQMS) in 2021.
- 93% of our audited suppliers fully met our SQMS standards in 2021.
- 46,241 restaurant food safety audits (announced and unannounced) conducted in 2021.
Nutrition & Marketing Practices
- Continued monitoring markets to support progress against the Global Happy Meal Goals, which we are on track to publish progress against in 2023.
- Strengthened internal network with representation from Nutrition, Sustainability, Quality Assurance and Supply Chain functions to collaborate and share best practices on nutrition across the company and insights across our global markets.
Responsible Sourcing
- 100% of the palm oil we sourced in 2021 was certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
- 100% of soy sourced in 2021 for the feed of chicken supported deforestation-free supply chains.
- 98.7% of our ground and whole bean coffee was sustainably sourced in 2021.
- 96.3% of wild-caught fish came from verified sustainable fisheries in 2021.
Animal Health & Welfare
- France, Germany, Australia and the U.K. have achieved a 100% cage-free egg supply chain, and the U.S. sources more than 74% cage-free eggs as of the end of 2021.
- More than 61% of our pork purchased in the U.S. comes from producers that have phased out the use of gestation stalls for housing confirmed pregnant sows.
- We are currently on track to achieve our 2024 Broiler Welfare Commitments across our in-scope markets, which once fully implemented, will positively impact more than 70% of our global chicken supply
Responsible Antibiotic Use
- Pilots in our 10 in-scope beef sourcing markets are helping to inform future market-appropriate targets for the responsible use of medically important antibiotics – as defined by the WHO – in our supply chain.
- We’ve eliminated the use of antibiotics defined as “Highest Priority Critically Important to Human Medicine” in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. in our broiler chicken supply chain.
Related News
- From Alaska to McCafé, via Thailand: Meet one of McDonald’s coffee experts
- Ten things you probably didn’t know about McDonald’s chicken nuggets
Reporting Across Our Purpose & Impact Web Pages
This section of our website – Our Purpose & Impact – is a living report where we share our approach to, and progress against, our priority ESG issues. Our goals and performance work in tandem to drive transformation across our four Impact Areas – the topics we know matter most to our stakeholders – helping up stay accountable for realizing our purpose and driving meaningful impact. Within these Impact Areas we have established strategies, goals, policies and performance indicators to manage our performance.
Relevant Reports and Summaries
- Global Happy Meal Goals 2020 Interim Progress Report
- 2020–2021 Purpose and Impact Summary (PDF – 5.26 MB)
- 2022 Broiler Welfare Progress Update (PDF – 97KB)
See All Current and Past Reports
Related Issues
Additional issues across our four pillars include:
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