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McDonald's releases statement about dropped egg supplier

November 20, 2011

McDonald's Corp. has released a full statement about animal cruelty allegations against Sparboe Farms, one of its egg suppliers. Following an extensive ABC News investigation last week, McDonald's severed ties with the company, the fifth largest egg supplier in the country.

The statement was released by Bob Langert, McDonald's vice president, Sustainability. It reads, in full:

"McDonald's expects all of our suppliers to meet our stringent requirements for delivering high quality food prepared in a humane and responsible manner. Based upon recent information, we have informed our direct supplier, Cargill, that we are no longer accepting eggs from its supplier, Sparboe. This decision is based on McDonald's and Cargill's concern regarding the management of Sparboe's facilities.

This is not a food safety issue for our menu items. We can assure our customers that eggs in our entire supply chain meet McDonald's high standards for quality and safety.

Our primary commitment is to our customers, and we will continue serving safe, high-quality food without disruption.

Regarding the undercover videos, the behavior on tape is disturbing and completely unacceptable. McDonald's wants to assure our customers that we demand humane treatment of animals by our suppliers. We take this responsibility – along with our customers' trust – very seriously. It's important to note that the most alarming actions on video did not occur at Sparboe's Vincent, Iowa facility that supplies McDonald's. Nonetheless, our extremely high standards for our suppliers prohibit this conduct.

McDonald's cares about how our food is sourced and we have a long history of action and commitment to improve the welfare of animals in our supply chain. We are a founding member of the Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply (CSES) and are participating in an unprecedented three-year study that compares traditional, cage-free, and enriched laying hen housing systems on a commercial scale. For our customers, that means we're working with scientists and suppliers to determine the most optimal hen housing method considering impacts on hen health & welfare, food safety, environment, and other important factors.

McDonald's is proud to be recognized as a leader in the restaurant industry for serving safe, quality food. Customers can feel good about eating at McDonald's."

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