McDonald’s has really been stepping up its chicken and egg games recently, but that’s got a group of investors asking, What about some TLC for the beef? The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, a leader in so-called “socially responsible investing,” has filed a shareholder resolution demanding McDonald’s ban antibiotics in Big Mac patties, too, instead of just chicken, since it’s (ostensibly) a burger company.
If the proposal goes before other shareholders and they vote yes, the company will have a new beef policy on its hands. The ICCR says more investors will file similar resolutions, but any antibiotic-free-beef resolution faces a major uphill battle, the biggest reason being there’s no urgency among ranchers to supply all-natural meat. That means even if the proposal passes at the next annual meeting, the task of sourcing 1 billion pounds of antibiotic-free beef any time soon would be Herculean. That said, the ICCR has a history of pestering corporations — Ford, Pfizer, and others — until it gets what it wants. If safer, drug-free meat is the goal, focusing on McDonald’s billion pounds is definitely the way to start.
[CNN]
