McDonald’s Restaurants is involved in developing its own standards for the welfare of chickens raised for sale in its restaurants.
Rather than prescribe what farmers can or cannot do, McDonald’s is going to monitor outcomes, said Banks Baker, Manager of Animal Welfare and Agriculture with McDonald’s Supply Chain and Sustainability team.
McDonald’s has committed $2 million to supporting welfare monitoring technologies at the farm level, with a specific focus on a bird’s walking ability or gait score as a proxy for leg health and also activity and behavior monitoring.
That is being matched by $2 million from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research.
Many of the research projects it is funding involve in-barn cameras to watch flocks.
There are researchers in England, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United States involved in projects for the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research.
