McDonald's Corporation

McDonald's provides a public high-level disclosure of its core menu items in its annual report, highlighting that its key proteins are beef, fish, pork, chicken, egg, and dairy. The company does not provide a granular breakdown by volume or revenue of its purchased proteins, but McDonald’s does include on its ‘Responsible Sourcing’ website that on a global scale, it is a large purchaser of beef and white fish. McDonald’s further disclosed that its Filet-O-Fish represents over 97% of the total fish volumes used in the McDonald’s system and that 88.8% of the fish sourced for McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish was from wild-caught fisheries, assessed and verified annually against McDonald’s Sustainability Fisheries Standard by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership. As the majority of McDonald’s fish is wild-caught and not prescribed antibiotics, FAIRR does not consider the development of a seafood antibiotics policy a priority at this time.

In 2017, the company implemented its ‘Chicken Antibiotics Policy’ which requires the elimination of HPCIAs by 2027 and does not permit the routine use of antibiotics for prophylaxis or growth promotion. It is assumed that McDonald’s policy applies to broilers and not laying hens as it doesn’t specify laying hens in its public reporting. Moreover, McDonald’s disclosed in an article titled ‘Response to Antibiotics in Chicken’ that in 2016, the company reached its commitment to only serve broiler chickens that have not been treated with antibiotics important to human medicine as defined by the WHO in all US Restaurants. Note that although “antibiotics important to human medicine” is a term occasionally used by the industry to represent the 35 antimicrobial classes used in human medicine outlined in the WHO’s ‘Critically important antimicrobials for human medicine 6th revision’, it does not accurately reflect the WHO’s wording, which is “medically important antimicrobials” (MIAs). McDonald’s outlines in its ‘Antibiotic Policy for our Beef Supply Chain’ that the use of MIAs is not permitted for growth promotion or prophylaxis. If prophylaxis is deemed necessary, McDonald's encourages the adoption of a tiered approach to antibiotic selection with HPCIAs reserved as a last resort. The company also prohibits the use of critically important antibiotics (CIAs) for metaphylaxis unless deemed necessary by a veterinarian to prevent death or suffering. McDonald’s has also published its ‘Market-Specific Target/Guidance for the Responsible Use of Antibiotics’ which sets a threshold for the total use of MIAs measured in mg of active ingredient/kg of live weight slaughtered for beef and dairy. McDonald’s does not publicly disclose an antibiotics policy for its pork supply chain, however, the company did report that during 2023, it would communicate and deploy its policy to pork industries in its in-scope markets. It is unclear if this has been achieved. Note that McDonald’s has published its ‘Global Vision for Antibiotic Stewardship in Food Animals’ (VAS) which serves as a framework for developing species-specific policies. It outlines seven criteria to guide its work and serve as goals for its suppliers. This includes veterinary oversight, prohibiting HPCIAs, prohibiting the use of MIAs as a first-line treatment, prohibiting the use of antibiotics for growth promotion and prophylaxis, adopting production practices to reduce antibiotic use, and benchmarking and measuring antibiotic use data.

McDonald’s goal to eliminate the use of HPCIAs from its broilers by 2027 applies to Brazil, Canada, Japan, South Korea, the US Australia, Russia, China, and Europe. The use of HPCIAs has been eliminated from all chicken served in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and the US, with China expected to comply before the end of 2027. Furthermore, the company has specified that it has prohibited the use of MIAs from broilers in all US restaurants. It is unclear however from which markets it has prohibited the routine use of antibiotics for prophylaxis or growth promotion. McDonald's beef and dairy antibiotic policy applies to its top 10 beef sourcing markets, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Poland, the UK, and the US which represents about 80% of its supply chain. The company does not disclose which of its markets or the percentage of its supply chain that complies with its policy. McDonald’s has not disclosed an antibiotics policy for its pork, and egg-layers.

McDonald’s disclosed that it has eliminated the use of HPCIAs from broilers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and the US. Since 2019, McDonald's has tracked the use of MIAs in its chicken supply chain for its top sales markets, representing 80 slaughter facilities and more than 8 billion birds. However, McDonald’s does not publicly disclose this antibiotic use data. McDonald's disclosed in its ‘Antibiotic Policy for our Beef Supply Chain’ that it will partner in the collection of antibiotics use data associated with beef and dairy industries across all in-scope markets. So far, the company has disclosed that it has partnered with suppliers and producers in its top 10 beef sourcing markets, representing 80% of its global supply chain, and conducted pilot tests to collect antibiotic use data in commercial feedlots, small farm operations, and dairies. As part of McDonald’s plan to deploy its pork antibiotic policy to the industry in its in-scope markets, the company says it will identify and develop plans for accessing and collecting antibiotic use data across all in-scope markets. The company has yet to provide evidence that this has begun. Additionally, McDonald’s has not disclosed evidence that it collects antibiotic use data for its egg layers.

As part of McDonald’s tracking of antibiotic use data in its broiler supply chain, the company reports that a third-party provider, ‘Food Animal Initiative’ (FAI), manages the data collection. McDonald's reported that it will share an update at the end of 2023 on its progress to leverage third parties to collect antibiotic use data in its beef supply chain. The company has not yet provided evidence that it conducts audits on its beef or dairy supply chains. Note that in its VAS, one of McDonald’s three priority areas is to develop methods to verify the responsible use of antibiotics and establish goals for measuring progress.

McDonald’s does not disclose how it manages non-compliance with its antibiotics policies in its supply chain.

McDonald’s has set a target to prohibit the use of HPICIAs from its global broiler supply chain by January 2027. The company’s goal is to have this policy implemented before this date. In 2022, McDonald's published its ‘Market-Specific Target/Guidance for Responsible Use of Antibiotics for Beef and Dairy’, for its top 10 sourcing markets. These guidelines set targets for the total use of MIAs measured in mg of active ingredient/kg of live weight slaughtered. Its target for the total use of MIAs is <50 mg/kg for dairy, and <35 mg/kg for beef. For France, Germany, Ireland, Poland, and the UK it is <21.5 mg/PCU total for dairy, and <10 mg/PCU total for beef. The guidelines however are not timebound and it is unclear what current antibiotic use levels are in these markets. The guidelines therefore represent a watering down of the company's previous commitment to publish market-specific reduction targets for MIAs by 2020, as pledged in 2018. McDonald’s has not publicly disclosed targets to reduce antibiotic use for its pork and egg layers.

McDonald’s provides a strong level of clarity on the scope of its beef and broiler antibiotic reduction targets. McDonald's publicly discloses that its goal to prohibit the use of HPICIAs from its global broiler supply chain applies to Brazil, Canada, Japan, South Korea, the US, Australia, Russia, China, and Europe. McDonald’s antibiotics target for beef and dairy apply to its top 10 sourcing markets which the company identifies as Australia, Brazil, Canada, US, New Zealand, France, Germany, Ireland, Poland, and the UK. For Australia, Brazil, Canada, US, and New Zealand. Its target for the total use of MIAs is <50 mg/kg for dairy, and <35 mg/kg for beef. For France, Germany, Ireland, Poland, and the UK it is <21.5 mg/PCU total for dairy, and <10 mg/PCU total for beef. McDonald’s has not publicly disclosed targets to reduce antibiotic use for its pork and egg layers.

McDonald’s reports its progress towards its goal of prohibiting the use of HPICIAs from its global broiler supply chain. Currently, all HPCIAs have been eliminated from all chicken served in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and the US and it expects China to comply before the end of 2027. McDonald’s has not disclosed any progress toward achieving its market targets for beef and dairy. Additionally, the company has not disclosed what the current average total use of MIAs is per mg/PCU and mg/kg for beef and dairy which makes it difficult for investors to assess the stringency of these targets. McDonald’s has not publicly disclosed targets to reduce antibiotic use for its pork and egg layers.

McDonald’s provided a written response to the engagement letter but declined to participate in a dialogue with investors and did not provide any feedback on its assessment.