McDonald’s is to serve ‘ethically sourced’ coffee at all its European
outlets. The fast food giant started by switching to Rainforest
Alliance-certified coffee in all its 1200 British outlets last month
and says the policy will extend to the rest of Europe by the end of the
year. It sells about 143,000 cups of coffee daily in the UK alone.
All the coffee, under the Kenco brand, will come from farms certified
by the Rainforest Alliance to its social and environmental standards in
conjunction with Utz Kapeh, a Dutch non-profit organization. Other
businesses working with the Rainforest Alliance are the coffee
manufacturer Lavazza, the consumer products group Procter & Gamble,
and coffee-shop chain Starbucks.
Farmers are guaranteed a premium of about 25 US cents (13p) more per
pound of coffee than they would otherwise get. The company will absorb
the costs. The new decision follows a recent switch by McDonald’s to
source all fish sold in its UK restaurants from fisheries approved as
sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council.
