We believe in great food – delicious meals and drinks, made from quality, sustainably sourced ingredients, and supporting UK and Irish farmers.
We use UK organic milk except in our milkshakes, frappes, Iced Latte, McFlurry® desserts, and Chocolate, Banana, and Strawberry flavour milk, and, in Northern Ireland, Flahavan’s Quick Oats and Happy Meal milk.
From 100% British and Irish beef in our burgers to Rainforest Alliance certified coffee, we’re committed to sustainable sourcing in ways that are good for people, animals and the planet. We want to lead the way in delivering more choice, including tasty and sustainable plant-based options, and helping our customers make more balanced choices, that don’t compromise on taste, convenience or price.
Sustainable sourcing
Our commitment and goals
We will source quality ingredients produced by progressive farmers to leading animal welfare and environmental standards.
By 2023 develop a Plan for Change Scorecard in collaboration with independent experts, to expand and embed ethical and sustainability criteria in our sourcing decisions
By 2025 support resilient livelihoods and sustainable outcomes through McDonald’s Farm Forward, benefiting over 23,000 British and Irish Farmers
By 2025 engage 10 million families, and connect them to farming, nature and the future of sustainable food
By 2030 have kick-started over 100 careers in food and farming for young people from diverse backgrounds through our McDonald’s Young Talent programme
Putting our commitment into practice
We are committed to sourcing our menu to continuously improve sustainability standards, including animal welfare and the wellbeing of the people in our supply chain. By 2023, we will have developed a new Plan for Change Scorecard, in collaboration with independent experts, to expand and embed ethical and sustainability criteria in our sourcing decisions.
We’ve been working on sustainable sourcing for over 20 years. And sustainable sourcing begins with sustainable farming. So we continue to innovate with farmers to help drive transformational change across the industry.
Supporting British and Irish farmers
Find out how we’re supporting farmers to be resilient and make environmental improvements through our Farm Forward programme.
We’re also growing the next generation of farmers, who bring their fresh thinking and energy to the industry. As we expand our Progressive Young Farmer programme, this will help give young people from diverse backgrounds in the UK and Ireland their start in food and farming.
We all have a role to play
We want to help our customers understand and appreciate where their food comes from, as well as enjoy what they’re eating.
We aim to connect 10 million families to farming, nature and the future of food by 2025 – and inspire the next generation to discover, enjoy and look after the natural world.
What makes our food?
Read about our approach to sustainably sourcing our key ingredients
Over 20 years of sustainable sourcing – free-range eggs since 1998
We’ve been serving free-range eggs since 1998.
Organic milk in our teas, hot coffees and Happy Meal milk bottles* since 2007.
Rainforest Alliance certified coffee since 2007.
Marine Stewardship Council certified fish since 2011.
All pork sourced from RSPCA Assured farms since 2013.
British potatoes for our fries since 2015.
RSPO Certified Palm Oil since 2015.
Antibiotic Stewardship strategy since 2015.
Enriched environments and natural daylight for chickens since 2017.
We also source 100% British and Irish beef.
Human rights in our supply chain
The success of the McDonald’s System lies in our trusted relationships with suppliers. We expect all suppliers to meet our expectations of fundamental rights for all people as established by the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
Our efforts to tackle antimicrobial resistance within our supply chain dates back to 2003, when we first established a position on responsible antibiotic use. In 2015, we developed the Vision for Antibiotic Stewardship (VAS). This outlines our approach to antibiotic use within the McDonald’s supply chain and sets the path for the development of species-specific policies. Find out more here.
McDonald’s UK&I is a member of RUMA (Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance) through the British Retail Consortium (BRC) which brings together stakeholders in the food supply chain. RUMA was established in November 1997 to promote responsible use of antibiotics, food safety, animal health and animal welfare in the British livestock industry.
Our sustainable sourcing partnerships and certifications
FAI Farms
The Prince’s Countryside Fund
Marine Stewardship Council
Red Tractor
Bord Bia
RSPCA Assured
RSPO
Soil Association
Rainforest Alliance
Industry awards
Compassion in World Farming Good Sow Award Commendation.
Pig and Poultry Marketing Awards: Training Initiative, Highly Commended.
RSPCA Freedom Food Alistair Mews Award for Food Service.
Sustainable Restaurant Association Raymond Blanc Hero Award, Sustainability Hero.
Compassion in World Farming Good Egg Award.
Compassion in World Farming Best Marketing Award.
Compassion in World Farming Good Dairy Commendation.
Cream Awards Judges Special Award for Sustainable Dairy Investment Fund.
Compassion in World Farming Sustainable Food and Farming Award.
Delivering more choice
Our commitment and goals
We will lead by helping customers make more balanced choices that don’t compromise on taste, convenience or price.
From 2021 conduct ongoing positive behaviour change research and implement findings across our order channels to inspire our customers to make more balanced choices
By 2022 launch the McDonald’s Nutrition Innovation Council, to create recipe reformulations and innovations that support more balanced choices that taste delicious
By 2022 develop nutrition criteria in line with recognised guidelines, working with advice from the British Nutrition Foundation, to better define the choices we offer on our menu
By 2023 help customers to navigate our menu by refreshing our menu signposting and nutrition labelling
By 2025 have a market leading vegan plant-based food and drinks offering
By 2026 a minimum of 50% of our products available across the total of our restaurants, excluding promo products, will meet our nutrition criteria
Find out more about the British Nutrition Foundation here.
Making a real difference across our menu
And as we update our menu options, we aim to have a market-leading vegan plant-based food and drinks offering that will appeal to everyone. In 2021, we launched the McPlant, our first vegan burger made with a juicy plant-based patty co-developed with Beyond Meat® and certified as vegan by the Vegetarian Society.
The people behind our Plan
“Customer trends are fast changing, and we can’t afford to stand still. When it comes to our food, we are committed to finding more balanced options and sustainable ingredients wherever possible. That is no easy task and takes time. But, with our suppliers, we have shown it is possible and have a strategic, long-term vision that will see our menu evolve in the coming years.”
Gráinne Allen, Director of Food & Innovation, McDonald’s Restaurants UK & Ireland
Offering choice on our menu
We are working with external experts on new nutrition criteria to better define the choice we offer on our menu. By 2026, we’re aiming for at least 50% of the products available across the total of our restaurants, excluding promo products, to meet these standards and we’ll continue to review our menu in line with relevant nutrition criteria.
To help our customers to navigate our menu we will refresh our approach to menu signposting and labelling. Our work will be informed by research, and tested with customers to ensure it is easily understood. We will also conduct ongoing research to understand how else we can encourage behaviour change, and put the findings into practice across our order channels.
Changing the position of low and no sugar drink options on our menu ordering screens has helped to create a significant increase in their sales.
Our journey so far
In 2011, we became the largest company in our sector to provide clearly visible calorie information at the point of purchase across all our restaurants.
In 2017 we relaunched our website enhancing the nutrition calculator so customers can see the effect on nutrition values when customising menu items.
In 2017, in the UK we launched our ‘Meals Under’ 400kcals and 600kcals bundles which showcase the choices we offer on our menu. More recently we also launched Meals Under in Ireland.
90% of our core food & drinks menu is 500 calories or under in the UK.
Between 2015 and 2020 we have removed 1,200 tonnes of fat, 512 tonnes of saturated fat, 83.7 tonnes of salt and 2,545 tonnes of sugar from our menu.
Happy Meal®
We review and update our Happy Meal® menu regularly. In 2020 we launched our Veggie Dippers, approved by the Vegetarian Society. Around 70% of items in our Happy Meal® menu are non-High in Fat Salt and Sugar (HFSS). Use our Nutrition Calculator to see the calories and other nutrition information for our Happy Meals.