Fresh from the cage-free barn

In September 2014, A&W announced itself as the first national fast food restaurant in North America to serve eggs from hens fed a vegetarian diet. A month later, the chain became the first in North America to serve chicken raised without the use of antibiotics. In March 2015, McDonald’s also announced that it would switch to chickens raised without most antibiotics, and in April, raised pay for workers at company-owned stores, which represent about 10 per cent of its American locations.

As of early September, McDonalds in Canada and the U.S. followed up these statements with another one – this time the surprising sourcing commitment to transition to 100 per cent cage-free eggs (known as free-run in Canada) over the next 10 years.

McDonald’s Canada says it will begin this transition immediately by sourcing five per cent free-run eggs now. And to ensure a sustainable supply of free-run eggs, McDonald’s Canada stated in its press release that it “will work with industry stakeholders to identify the best path forward.” There are more than 1400 McDonald’s outlets in Canada with more than 85,000 employees from coast to coast.  

For over ten years, McDonald’s has been pressured by the Humane Society of the United States to make this move. Other companies such as Subway and Starbucks had already committed to switching to free-run eggs, but neither has presented a timeline. We asked McDonald’s Canada why it has decided to go free-run, instead of sourcing eggs from enriched cage systems for example. Was it pressure from animal rights groups, an attempt to match what competitors are doing or to boost slumping sales?

Media spokesperson Adam Grachnik says “I can tell you that at McDonald’s Canada, we are always listening to our guests and our announcement on September 9th was about updating Canadian consumers about the progress we are making on a topic many of our guests have told us matters to them. This move is another step in our continuing journey to evolve our entire food experience to meet our guests’ changing expectations.” Grachnik adds “We know our guests care that the food they eat is made with responsibly-sourced, high-quality ingredients which is why we are making the move towards sourcing only 100 per cent Canadian cage-free eggs for our Canadian restaurants. McDonald’s has been actively engaged in this topic since 2003 when we were the first food service company to adopt a standard for hen housing systems, which provided more space per bird than the official industry standard.”

Housing Research
McDonald’s is part of a group called the Coalition for a Sustainable Egg Supply (CSES) (http://www2.sustainableeggcoalition.org/research). This spring, the group released results from a three-year study showing that free-run systems have some disadvantages relating to both consumers and birds, and that they do not provide the highest sustainability scores, so we asked why McDonald’s went this way instead of with enriched cage systems, for example. Grachnik says the CSES research was done to better understand the impact of various hen housing systems on animal health and welfare, the environment, worker health, food safety and food affordability. “The goal of the research was not to identify a best hen housing system, but to instead help us better understand the benefits and potential drawbacks of a variety of hen housing systems. As we make this transition, we’ll use these insights to help identify opportunities and direct our focus on ways to improve cage-free hen housing systems.”

It seems that Egg Farmers of Canada (EFC, also a CSES member) is being consulted by McDonald’s now, but it’s unclear if the association was consulted before McDonald’s made their free-run announcement in early September. The association directed us to a statement on its website which says: “EFC, on behalf of Canada’s more than 1,000 farms, welcomes and accepts [McDonald’s] request for stakeholder and expert advice as they work through the important operational and financial details of converting their supply chain.” When asked for its take on why McDonald’s Canada went with free-run, whether other big chains in Canada will follow suit, the ten-year timeline feasibility and the challenges for farmers to switch to free-run, EFC again directed us to its website statement. “As further evidenced by the recent study by the CSES, each major production system—conventional, enriched, free run, free range, and aviary—has trade-offs across a wide variety of factors (e.g. costs, welfare, energy, human health, environment). Thus, we respect McDonald’s decision to leverage the research and transition over time and with the assistance of the North American industry.”

SUPPLY IN CANADA
Burnbrae Farms is the sole supplier of eggs for McDonald’s Canada. We spoke to President Margaret Hudson about whether her company was consulted before McDonald’s made their free-run announcement, and answer was yes. Hudson says Burnbrae was definitely part of the process and that the timeline is one Burnbrae felt it could achieve. Burnbrae has been producing free-run eggs for almost 20 years, and production has grown to being currently just under 10 per cent.

We asked whether Burnbrae is aiming for a certain amount of free-run production each year over the next ten years, and Hudson says “It will evolve as it makes sense, with our farms and contract farms. With such a long lead time, equipment needs to be replaced and it will be replaced with enough free-run equipment to meet McDonald’s needs. With that long of a timeline, I don’t see an issue.”

Will Burnbrae need to assist their contract farmers to deal with conversion costs? Hudson believes most farmers will be able to manage on their own. “We have a whole team of people whose job it is to interface with our farmer partners, and that will be a part of this,” she explains. “It’s an ongoing conversation. It’s a little more capital [for free-run] but not insurmountable. We are there if we are needed, but we don’t see that [our financial help] will be required.” Hudson notes that Burnbrae has farmed eggs for 70 years and served McDonald’s for over 30 years. “We’re excited about this process and working with them,” she says. “If this what they want for their customers, we are happy to move forward with them.”

SOUTH OF THE BORDER
In the U.S., McDonald’s already buys about 13 million cage-free eggs a year, but this represents only less than 1 per cent of the 2 billion eggs it purchases annually. That total is expected to rise as McDonald’s USA will begin offering some breakfast menu items all day starting in early October.

United Egg Producers (UEP, a cooperative representing about 95 per cent of all U.S. egg farmers) states that only about 6 per cent of the layers in that country are presently in cage-free facilities. UEP was not consulted before McDonald’s made this announcement. We asked President and CEO Chad Gregory how American McDonald’s restaurants will be able to access enough free-run eggs even in 10 years (because the U.S. lags behind on the adoption of enriched systems, let alone free-run) and he says he believes ten years is ample time for suppliers to convert.

“UEP supports consumer choice, and we respect the decision made by McDonald’s,” Gregory says in a general media statement. Further in the statement, he adds “Over the years, many evaluations of hen housing systems have been conducted, including…CSES, that compared three different hen housing environments. Both UEP and McDonald’s are members of CSES, and through this process, as well as through the ongoing counsel of UEP’s Scientific Advisory Committee, our members have gathered information about developments in hen housing and appropriate care for hens.”

It may be that all fast food chains in Canada and the U.S. – as well as other restaurants and food service outlets – will eventually all demand only free-run eggs. The days of buying eggs from hens housed in battery cages, whether those eggs are at the drive-thru or from your favourite grocery store, could be numbered.