The fast food chain McDonalds announced that all milk for its tea and coffee sold in the 1,200 outlets in the UK will come from organic British cows, starting the end of July. So far, 500,000 litres are sold in children’s Happy Meals. After the end of July, the company will need 8.6 million litres each year - a share of 5 % of all organic milk sales in the UK. This will make the company one of the biggest buyers for this product.
So far, organic milk equates for only 6 % of all milk sold in the country. Many organic farmers had stopped producing after they had failed to earn enough money. Some of the leading supermarkets in the UK admitted last year that they had to ship in supplies from overseas. But McDonald’s chief executive in the UK announced that he could guarantee that there was enough of it available, since various farms had recently received organic certification. It was not decided yet if other milk products would be organic in the future, but then up to 38 million litres of organic milk would be needed additionally.
Most farmers and organic campaigners welcomed the fast food giant to join the organic trend. Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association, stated that this was a small but significant step in the right direction and that he hoped the company’s food sourcing continued to improve to create better opportunities for farmers and to provide healthier options for customers.
