Industry News - PM

McDonald’s on antibiotics use in beef and pork sectors: interview


By Rita Jane Gabbett on 4/6/2016

CHICAGO — McDonald’s is currently working with the beef and pork industries on an approach to antibiotics use in cattle and hog production that at this point would not take a “never ever” approach, according to Justin Ransom, senior director of quality systems for McDonald’s USA.  

“We know some of our competitors have come out and said ‘no antibiotics ever.’  We don’t necessarily think that is possible in the short term. It is really more about how we can challenge people to find better ways to raise animals so that they don’t need antibiotics to begin with,” Ransom told Meatingplace on the sidelines of the North American Meat Institute’s management conference here. 

Ransom’s comments come a year after the Oak Brook-based fast-food giant announced plans to eventually only buy chickens from suppliers whose flocks have been raised without antibiotics important to human medicine.

Ransom said McDonald’s is working with some of the industry’s best scientists to try to develop a global vision for antimicrobial stewardship.

“We are in conversations right now with the beef industry. I met with beef industry representatives in Colorado last week and we are meeting with industry representatives in the [pork industry] to understand what are the things that are working, where do we have opportunities to reduce the use, where do we have opportunities to mitigate the need for use,” said Ransom.

He emphasized the company’s interest in understanding this complex issue, and coming up with strategies beef and pork producers can achieve.

“Our goal is to come out with a commitment we know industry can move toward. It may be a stretch goal, but it is one of those things where we really want industry’s engagement on how we can do things differently,” he said.

Ransom’s comments came after a presentation to conference attendees during which he emphasized the impact of social media and importance of answering consumers’ questions.

Through its recent campaign, “Our Food. Your questions.” McDonald’s answered 50,000 questions over a 90-day period through social media. Even though McDonald’s advertising since 1967 has consistently included “100 percent beef” in its messaging, Ransom said the No. 1 question the company still gets from consumers is: “What is in the beef?”

He said social media has changed what constitutes successful food product messaging and efforts going forward must include more one-on-one engagement with consumers.

Noting on any given day there are 20,000 messages on the social media site Instagram posted about customers’ experiences at McDonald’s restaurants, Ransom said the company’s future consumer engagement programs will start with digital engagement.


 
Loading Comments