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Cattlemen to hear more about McDonald’s sustainable beef sourcing

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says it is interested to hear more about McDonald’s pledge that it will be serving verified sustainable beef within a couple of years. Cattlemen have discussed sustainability with McDonald’s as well as with other stakeholders and they look forward to hearing from the fast-food giant first hand in a month, according to Forrest Roberts, the CEO for the NCBA.

Bob Langert, vice-president of sustainability for McDonald’s, will address the NCBA convention and answer questions about the company’s supply chain sustainability plans. Even McDonald’s admits to a lack of clarity on the matter. On its website, the hamburger purveyors concede that “there hasn’t been a universal definition of sustainable beef.”

On the other hand, a beef checkoff-funded assessment indicates cattle producers have improved their social and environmental sustainability by 7 percent in the past six years.