Alberta Farmer Express - How the ‘verified sustainable beef’ process works

By Alexis Kienlen

​McDonald’s has started verifying producers, as part of its promise to start selling sustainable beef in 2016.

Here’s what’s been happening on Alberta farms so far:

• Earlier this year, McDonald’s said it had a list of 40 “indicators” that will be used to rate a beef operation. The indicators — which cover areas such as animal care, environmental stewardship, and food safety practices — were jointly developed with livestock industry officials.
• Nineteen Alberta ranches have gone through the pilot process and have been verified. The evaluation is easy and takes about four hours to complete, said Cheri Copithorne-Barnes, chair of the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef and one of the ranchers who has been verified.

​Read the full article here.

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