While a major
gathering of McDonald’s franchisees and executives meet this week here in Orlando, they’ll have some company — an animal-welfare activist group.
An animal-welfare activist group is taking aim at McDonald’s and its McNuggets as the fast food chain hosts a major gathering of franchisees and executives this week in Orlando.
The Humane League had about a dozen protesters Wednesday outside the McDonald’s Worldwide Conference at Orange County Convention Center along International Drive to call attention to what they say is unfair treatment and breeding of chickens used for its sandwiches and McNuggets.
A McDonald’s spokeswoman said the chain made several steps to address chicken and animal welfare.
The group is pushing McDonald’s to make commitments to using breeds of chickens that grow less quickly and to increase the amount of space that chickens are given on farms, said Christopher Liptrot, the director of corporate relations for the Humane League.
“Basically, the types of chickens used in McDonald’s supply chains are bred to grow so fast that they have significant growth issues,” Liptrot said.
McDonald’s spokeswoman Andrea Abate said McDonald’s has made changes to improve animal welfare in its supply chain and just a few months ago adopted a new policy on chickens.
“We’re committed to sourcing our food and packaging sustainably, including the welfare of the animals in our global supply chain,” Abate said in an email statement. “We believe that our outcome-based approach provides the most comprehensive way forward to measurably improve chicken welfare.”
Humane League is a pro-vegan group and has been one of the more controversial forces in the animal-welfare community, staging protests outside McDonald’s restaurants near its headquarters in Illinois with a person dressed as a diseased chicken and signs that say “See what’s really inside your Happy Meal.” They have also taken aim at Darden Restaurants, which is based in Orlando.
The group has also criticized restaurant and grocery chains for not making commitments to using eggs that come from cage-free chickens.
“While many of the major animal protection groups disagree with our tactics, they agree with our policies,” Liptrot said.
Other fast food chains, such as Subway, Burger King and Sonic, have agreed with Humane League to adopt more animal-welfarefriendly practices by 2024, and the group wants McDonald’s to do the same.
“There are enough suppliers and companies out there that have agreed to this that it’s not impractical at this point,” Liptrot said.
“We’re committed to sourcing our food and packaging sustainably ... ” Andrea Abate, McDonald’s spokeswoman