The large industrial cattle operations needed to supply the company had a large environmental
footprint. McDonald’s worked with NGOs and suppliers to better understand their impacts on
water pollution, waste management and soil erosion of large livestock operations. As part of this
collaboration, the company engaged in pilot projects with beef suppliers in an attempt to
establish sustainability goals and metrics. The result was improved environmental practices that
in turn provided both defense against criticism and support of the company brand. McDonald’s
has been requiring beef suppliers to document that their cattle do not have mad cow disease and
it has been asking chicken suppliers to reduce antibiotic use.