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Home Page > News > No pink slime here - McDonald's pump $1.5 million into Irish and UK farming - Video

No pink slime here - McDonald's pump $1.5 million into Irish and UK farming - Video

Irish and UK markets won't eat like Americans

CATHY HAYES,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Wednesday, March 28, 2012, 8:21 AM

Updated Wednesday, March 28, 2012, 10:02 AM

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McDonald's announced a new program for their Irish and British chains they call Farm Forward

Photo by Google Images

The Irish and the Brits won't eat like Americans, it’s official.

This week McDonald's, whose US based franchises made the headlines in recent weeks for the use (and the sudden disavowal) of the so-called 'pink slime' treated meat product in their hamburgers, announced a new program for their Irish and British chains they call Farm Forward, a three-part program aimed at supporting farmers, improving the sustainability of their own supply chain.

According to a report in the Enviromentalleader.com the initiative includes a training program in sustainable farming practices for young farmers.

More established farmers will be provided with a 'carbon calculator' to measure their output and the impact of their work on the environment.

Additionally McDonalds will supply major funding for research and innovation to both the British and Irish agriculture sectors. The fast food will reportedly spend $1.5 million on the program in its first year.

McDonald’s is also reportedly partnering with Harper Adams University College, the University of Reading and Newcastle University to fund one-year courses where students will spend time at farms and factories that supply the restaurant chain, as well as at McDonald’s franchises throughout the UK and Ireland.

Brian Mullens, the senior vice president of McDonald’s U.K. supply chain, told the press he hopes the program will be 'a call to arms' that will inspire similar initiatives by other major food retailers.

Responding to public pressure McDonald’s last week announced that it will serve chicken sourced exclusively from U.K. farmers at this year’s London Olympics. McDonald’s says it expects to serve more than 30,000 metric tons of chicken at the 2012 games and before it responded to the public outcry had been planning to source the meat from farms as far away as Brazil, alongside U.K. farms.

Nster.com

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bunkerhill | Apr 02, 2012, 10:17 AM EDT

I agree with STEVENSTAR that Irish beef is the best in the world having traveled extensively around the country. The Irish are extremely fussy about their food. However there was no "potato famine," as it was genocide pure and simple. The Irish land had been confiscated and handed out to friends of the crown and the Irish were given small plots of land which a family could not survive. There was plenty of food in Ireland but it was all shipped to England. They should never have been dependent on one crop. Did you know the "potato" crop on the Aran Island was not affected by the blight.

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McNamara31 | Mar 31, 2012, 05:27 PM EDT

STEVENSTAR …I agree totally. Monsanto is buying up and patenting the world’s seeds and will soon control, produce and feed worldwide. This is very disturbing especially because most seeds are now “terminator” seeds, engineered to have only one life cycle and must be re purchased from Monsanto yearly. I believe the great attractiveness of Irish produce and stock is that it has in the past been GMO free. At least in Europe GM food is labeled, where in the states Monsanto is so powerful they have fought each time against labeling. Americans don't even know they are eating GMO's.Did you know the head of the FDA in the states is a past Monsanto lawyer...That says it all. Keep fighting.

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STEVENSTAR | Mar 29, 2012, 07:37 PM EDT

@@@@@@McNamara31 | Mar 28, 2012, 10:20 AM EDT The greater issue addressing Irish food production (than McDonalds hamburgers) is the creeping of (GM) Genetically Engineered food and feed into the Irish market. Because of this entry Ireland is on the verge of losing its very unique selling point of “ the most GMO-free brand in Europe.” For the past few years Ireland has allowed their cattle to be fed genetically engineered cattle feed made from soy and corn that had pesticide engineered into the seed so as the crop grows each cell contains weed killer. Beyond that, the government is contemplating actively testing the first GM potato crops made from potatoes engineered with pesticide in the same fashion as the cattle feed. One of the main reasons for the potato blight that started the famine in the 1800’s was that the potatoes were all from a common line of Irish potato so the blight made all potato’s vulnerable. Genetic Engineering scientifically produces the same result: a single genetic type of potato engineered to fight the known agents of the day; yet as nature always does, in time will create a blight or fungus that will wipe out that line of potato. Only by having a variety are you assured survival of any species.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> THE REASON GM IS CREEPING INTO IRELAND IS WE CAN THANK THE AMERICANS THEY TOOK THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION TO COURT BECAUSE WE HAD A BAN ON GM FOODS IN EUROPE ... WE DONT WANT GM BUT ITS BEEN FORCED ON US BY BIG AMERICAN COMPANIES LIKE MONSANTO ........... BUT THERE IS A HUGE BACKLASH OVER HERE ,..,,, WE REFUSE TO EAT ANYTHING GM OVER HERE AND LONG MAY THAT CONTINUE ...AMERICAN FOOD IS DREADFUL UNLESS ITS ORGANIC ..

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STEVENSTAR | Mar 29, 2012, 07:34 PM EDT

RIGHTLY SO AMERICAN FOOD IS DREADFUL AND ALL GENETICALLY MODIFIED ..WE REFUSE TO EAT THAT OVER HERE... S FOR MC DONALDS I NEVER TOUCH THE STUFF NO THANKS ...

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McNamara31 | Mar 29, 2012, 06:47 PM EDT

JohnKinMD Do you work for the beef industry by chance?

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JohnKinMD | Mar 28, 2012, 04:52 PM EDT

First off "pink slime" is "lean finely textured beef" otherwise known as LFTB. LFTB comes straight from trimmings when cuts are leaned up. The trimmings are sent to a processor where they go through a process were a good portion of the fat is removed and the meat that is left comes out in basically a meat paste,treated with ammonium chloride, which is a widely used preservite for killing any bacteria and such, and then frozen into pellets. 3yrs ago people were yelling we werent doing enough to protect from E-coli,right? The frozen LFTB is then added to Ground beef as a way to lean or fatten to correct percentages. Now that mant major retailers are pulling ground beef with LFTB added, be prepared for a good price jump at the supermarket on your hamburger, 20-50 cents per lb. All in all it comes down to this every test that has been done on LFTB has proven that it is perfectly safe. The company that produces LFTB is now announcing it is going to close 3 of it's 4 plants,putting 2,000 out of work. And lastely by the way, you have been eating it for the last 20 yrs, didn't seem to bother you then.

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Searlit | Mar 28, 2012, 12:12 PM EDT

Oh McNamara, it's great to see you back, with another Mac attack. You explained the dangers of GMO crops perfectly.

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CitizenWhy | Mar 28, 2012, 11:29 AM EDT

McNamara31 has it right. GMO crops leech nutrients out of the soil. GMO seeds migrate everywhere and take over from organic, natural plants. GMO production encourages the use of toxic chemical fertilizer to make up for the fact that a nutrient-poor soil produces stunted crops unless heavily fertilized with chemicals. These chemicals are severe water polluters. The entire ecoculture is put in danger with GMO crops.

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McNamara31 | Mar 28, 2012, 10:20 AM EDT

The greater issue addressing Irish food production (than McDonalds hamburgers) is the creeping of (GM) Genetically Engineered food and feed into the Irish market. Because of this entry Ireland is on the verge of losing its very unique selling point of “ the most GMO-free brand in Europe.” For the past few years Ireland has allowed their cattle to be fed genetically engineered cattle feed made from soy and corn that had pesticide engineered into the seed so as the crop grows each cell contains weed killer. Beyond that, the government is contemplating actively testing the first GM potato crops made from potatoes engineered with pesticide in the same fashion as the cattle feed. One of the main reasons for the potato blight that started the famine in the 1800’s was that the potatoes were all from a common line of Irish potato so the blight made all potato’s vulnerable. Genetic Engineering scientifically produces the same result: a single genetic type of potato engineered to fight the known agents of the day; yet as nature always does, in time will create a blight or fungus that will wipe out that line of potato. Only by having a variety are you assured survival of any species.

Report abuse