The Wendy's Company

Wendy's provides a high-level disclosure of its key purchased proteins in its 2022 CR report, where it lists its ‘10 Priority Food Categories’. These include the proteins beef, pork, chicken, dairy, and egg. Seafood is not included in this. In its 2022 annual report, the company also highlights its menu offerings which include hamburger sandwiches, chicken breast sandwiches, chili, chicken nuggets, and its dairy based Frosty® dessert. The company communicated to FAIRR that for competitive reasons, it does not disclose specific percentages or amounts of each protein that it purchases. It shared that beef and chicken each makeup approximately 15-20% of its US commodity basket, followed by pork, and then dairy and eggs. The company also shared in a dialogue with FAIRR that it considers its seafood exposure to be very low and does not consider seafood to be a protein it can make a material impact on. This is reflected on the company website where it offers a seasonal fish fillet sandwich made from wild Alaskan pollock. As this is wild caught it is therefore not exposed to antibiotic treatment.

Wendy’s has an ‘Antibiotics Use Policy’ that sets targets to phase out the routine use of MIA in its US and Canadian beef, pork, and chicken supply by the end of 2030. This policy’s target is in line with recommendations 1, 2,& 3 of the WHO Guidelines on the Use of Medically Important Antimicrobials in Food-Producing Animals but does not extend to recommendations 4a and 4b. The company has demonstrated its intentions to achieve the targets it set out in its Antibiotic Use Policy by publicly reporting on its progress. In its 2022 CR report, it recognises that in order to eliminate the routine use of MIA, it requires greater visibility over the use of antibiotics beyond its raw material suppliers for its beef, pork and chicken in Canada, and its beef and pork in the US. As part of its ‘Antibiotic Use Policy’, the company therefore stipulates that it will map and report on the use of MIAs in its US and Canadian beef and pork supply chains by the end of 2024. In its 2022 CR report, the company states that it already eliminated the routine use of MIA within its chicken supply chain in the US. On its website, it states that it has ‘eliminated all antibiotics important to human medicine’. This definition is unclear and should be updated to align with the reporting in its CR report. The company does not currently report on MIA use in its Canadian chicken supply and does not disclose when this information will be publicly available. The company does not have a policy on the use of antibiotics by its egg or dairy suppliers. In a dialogue with FAIRR, it explained that at the time its current policy was created, it was not a large purchaser of eggs. The company stated that it has now added an egg expert to its Animal Welfare Council and will assess if it is warranted to expand its antibiotic commitment to egg layers. The company is not currently considering expanding its ‘Antibiotic Use Policy’ to include its dairy suppliers while it focuses on its pork and beef supply.

In its ‘Antibiotic Use Policy’, Wendy's stipulates that the targets for beef, pork, and chicken are specific to its US and Canadian supply chains. In a dialogue with FAIRR, the company confirmed that the policy covered both company-owned and franchised stores. By covering the US and Canada the company is focusing on the largest proportion of its supply. In its CR report, it states that it considers its restaurants in these regions to constitute around 90% of its restaurant footprint. According to the company's 2023 CDP report, on 1 January 2023, it operated 5994 restaurants in the United States and 1,101 in 31 foreign countries and US territories. It did not stipulate how many of these were in Canada, however, according to its Canadian website, on 14 December 2023, there were 421 restaurants in Canada. Acknowledging the inaccuracies related to the differences in dates, this would leave approximately 680 restaurants globally that are not included in its ‘Antibiotic Use Policy’. In a dialogue with FAIRR, the company shared that it would consider including new geographies in its policy but does not currently have plans to implement this.

The Wendy's Company discloses in its 2022 CR report that it has achieved its goal of eliminating the routine use of MIA from its chicken supply in the US. Since the majority of its restaurants are in the US, this represents the majority of its chicken supply, however, it is important for the company to disclose its antibiotics use throughout its global chicken supply since regulations on antibiotic use vary internationally. The company has not specified a timebound target for disclosing its current antibiotic use in its Canadian chicken supply. The company does not currently disclose its antibiotic use in its global supply of beef, pork, egg layers, or dairy. As part of its Antibiotic Use Policy, it has set a timebound commitment to map and report on the use of MIA in its beef and pork supply chains within the US and Canada by the end of 2024. These countries represent the majority of its restaurants. Since antibiotic regulation varies globally, the extent of antibiotic usage by the company's suppliers outside of these regions is unclear. The company currently has no commitments to disclose its antibiotic use in its egg or dairy supply.

According to the company website, the US chicken supply is audited by the USDA as part of its Process Verified Program. In a dialogue with FAIRR and investors, the company confirmed that the USDA Processed Verified Chicken is the only audit of antibiotic use within its key animal protein supply. The company does not disclose evidence of any internal or third-party auditing of antibiotic use in its beef, pork, egg, or dairy supply globally or in its chicken supply outside the US.

In a dialogue with FAIRR, the company disclosed that they have never needed to remove a supplier due to non-compliance with their code of conduct but that when issues arise they implement a risk-based action plan which includes auditing or supplier observation. Since the targets to eliminate the use of MIA in the company’s beef, pork and chicken supply within the US and Canada are for2030, it is difficult to address non-compliance before this date. No disclosure is provided regarding the percentage of suppliers that are currently in compliance with the company’s antibiotic use policy for its US and Canadian beef and pork supply or within its Canadian chicken supply. It is unclear if the company will include this in its 2024 reporting and mapping targets. The company has disclosed that it achieved its targets to eliminate the use of MIA in its US chicken supply. Antibiotic use is audited by the USDA but the company does not directly report on the suppliers levels of compliance. Since there is no antibiotic use policy for the company’s egg layers or dairy herd, the levels of compliance cannot be measured.

As part of its ‘Antibiotic Use Policy’, Wendy's disclose a timebound target that by the end of 2030, 100% of its US and Canadian beef, chicken and pork will be sourced from suppliers that prohibit the routine use of medically important antibiotics. The company has not disclosed a target for the use of antibiotics within its egg layers or dairy herds.

In its ‘Antibiotic Use Policy’, the company stipulates that its targets for beef, pork and chicken only cover its US and Canadian supply chains. This represents the majority of its approximately 6000 restaurants but does not include around 680 restaurants globally. In a dialogue with FAIRR, the company shared that it would consider including new geographies in its targets but does not currently have plans to implement this.

In its 2022 CSR report, the company has disclosed that it has already achieved its target of eliminating all medically important antibiotics from its US chicken supply. It has not yet publicly disclosed its current progress to targets for eliminating the routine use of MIA in its chicken supply in Canada or its pork and beef supply in the US and Canada. In its CR report the company suggests that there is a need for a lot of progress in its beef and pork supply chains nit that its largest beef producer consortium is conducting studies on the most commonly used antibiotics for cattle feeding strategies.

In its CR report, the company highlights that it engages in one-to-one calls with NGO’s and investors in order to consider outside perspectives. In accordance with this, the company has responded to FAIRRs letter and engaged in a dialogue with FAIRR and investors. The company did not provide any feedback on its assessment.