Working to ensure proper treatment of animals
McDonald’s cares about the humane treatment of animals, and we recognize that being a responsible purchaser of food products means working with our suppliers to ensure industry-leading animal husbandry practices. Our approach is based on our Animal Welfare Guiding Principles, which express our commitment to ensuring that animals are “free from cruelty, abuse and neglect”.
Specific practices may vary slightly across the McDonald’s System depending on differences in scientific opinion and/or cultural norms and expectations, but our practices are always driven by the latest available scientific research, advice from respected animal welfare experts (such as those on the U.S.-based Animal Welfare Council), and potential environmental and food safety implications. We support these differences so long as each facility in our supply chain is operated in a way that aligns with our Guiding Principles. We audit all abattoir facilities for alignment with these Principles.
We also continuously monitor research related to specific animal welfare practices (e.g., broiler stunning, laying hen housing, and sow housing) to ensure that our System is aware of the most up-to-date best practices. We do this by consulting with animal welfare experts and actively supporting research. McDonald’s Europe, for example, is a founding partner of the Food Animal Initiative at Oxford University, a project that combines the best evidence-based science with practical application to create sustainable commercial farming systems, with a focus on animal welfare.