The foundation of our social responsibility supplier program is our global Code of Conduct for Suppliers which outlines McDonald’s minimum requirements in the areas of employment and workplace practices. The aim of this program is to protect the health, safety and human rights of workers and audits are regularly conducted in Australia to ensure suppliers are meeting our social responsibility expectations.
Our animal welfare expectations currently meet or exceed all minimum standards in Australia. We also adhere to McDonald’s Animal Welfare Guiding Principles in relation to animal welfare. We believe that animals should be ‘free from cruelty, abuse and neglect’. Our guidelines are based on technical standards and a comprehensive audit program which was developed using the knowledge of third party experts. To ensure supplier compliance, our beef, poultry and pork suppliers’ processing plants are annually audited by independent third party auditors from AUS-MEAT.