One of the biggest restaurant chains in the world is supporting the Canadian government and its effort to implement mandatory livestock traceability by 2011.
"McDonald's believes that a robust, national traceability system is critical to ensuring consumer confidence and building brand trust in the beef industry," says Jeff Kroll, senior vice-president of McDonald's Restaurants of Canada during a recent presentation to the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association.
"While it's an additional cost, we believe that it's simply the right thing to do. Traceability is the right thing for all of us to do for our businesses and our customers, both domestically and abroad," Kroll says.
Growing consumer awareness about food production and demand for greater food safety has caused McDonald's to emphasize traceability for all menu items. In 2009, the company purchased 64 million pounds of Canadian beef, 44 million pounds of chicken and 62 million eggs. In Canada, 2.8 million people eat at McDonald's daily -- almost 10 per cent of the population.
Kroll notes that since the 2003 BSE case, McDonald's has purchased 100 per cent Canadian beef for its Canadian restaurants. They have also been part of a program to trace their beef, if concerns arose.
"For us to be able to call our supplier, which is Cargill, and say, 'that animal came from a specific farm, are you buying from that farm? Was that animal in our meat? What lot was it in?' We need to be able to answer those questions to be able to assure safety and quality to our customers," Kroll explains.
While he was firm in the need for a traceability system, Kroll also told producers McDonald's is willing to pay for that increased traceability.
"We pay a premium today for the firewalls we have on beef. That's just a fact and is something we build into our price to our owners who operate our restaurants across the country and is something ultimately the consumer is paying for today."
Quality, food safety, animal welfare are all things McDonald's has a history of paying more for, according to Kroll, and will continue to pay for.
"Ultimately it does get passed onto the consumer, although it is one element of 500 that go into the price of a product before it goes to one of our restaurants," Kroll says. "Do I think consumers will pay more for a premium product? Marketed correctly -- absolutely."
