News

McDonald's UK invites consumers to scout supply chain

May 14, 2013

McDonald's UK has launched a new program called 'Quality Scouts', which invites members of the public to "go behind the scenes and report back on how some of its most famous products are made," according to a news release.

The launch was in response to consumer demand to know where their food comes from.

The Quality Scouts will investigate and chronicle the supply chain process from some of the 17,500 British and Irish farms that supply McDonald's through to food production and restaurants. They will meet and interview farmers, food suppliers and McDonald's employees to find out more about what's in their chosen product and how it is made. McDonald's will then publish the Quality Scouts' reports on its interactive website, whatmakesmcdonalds.co.uk, later this year.

According to a recent Populus poll of 2,000 consumers, knowing more about where food comes from is now an important issue for most UK adults. Four out of five people (81 percent) said it is important that ingredients are traceable to the farm they came from, and over half of adults (53 percent) consider how food is produced when deciding which products to buy.

"Every day, people ask us questions about our food and our ingredients, so we're inviting members of the public to see for themselves what's in some of our most popular products and follow the journey from farm to restaurant. We're extremely proud of our longstanding British supply chain and the quality standards we have in place, but we know there is a lot of curiosity about our food. We're looking forward to giving the Quality Scouts unique access behind the scenes, letting them uncover the facts, and sharing their reports," said Warren Anderson, vice president, Supply Chain, McDonald's UK.

McDonald's has invited farmer and 2011 Celebrity MasterChef winner, Phil Vickery, to help select the Quality Scouts and take part in behind-the-scenes supply chain visits this summer.

The Quality Scout visits will take place throughout summer 2013.

This isn't the first effort by McDonald's to increase transparency about its food. The chain's Canada system launched a new website last summer soliciting questions from customers about its food and business.

In Australia, the company added a mobile app earlier this year that allows customers to track the supply chain of their orders.

Read more about the supply chain.