McDonald’s will transition to using eggs from cage-free hens in its restaurants in the US and Canada over the next decade, the company announced Wednesday. Given the company’s scale, the move promises to hasten a transition by egg producers to improve animal welfare that has been years in the making. McDonald’s purchases more than 2 billion eggs each year in the US alone, or about 5% of the total number of eggs produced in the country. The company has struggled in recent years as consumers have searched for healthier options and other retailers have sprouted up offering just that. Many large food suppliers, including Costco and General Mills, have announced plans to go cage-free in recent years, but those statements have lacked a specific timeline. Burger King, a key McDonald’s competitor, said earlier this year that it would go cage-free by 2017. Even so, the cage-free standard has come under criticism from some; it can mean that birds are simply restricted to overcrowded barns rather than individual cages. (TIME)
Health
Jamie Oliver proposes UK tax on sugary drinks; industry is not amused
UK celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has teamed up with food lobbying organization Sustain to encourage the UK government to consider a tax on sugary drinks and use the proceeds to help curb childhood obesity. A petition launched by Oliver proposes a tax of 7p per can, citing experts who believe it could generate £1 billion per year. The industry trade group Food and Drink Federation accuses Oliver of simplifying a complex problem. It uses the example of a soda tax that was introduced in France in 2012, which did not cause a long-term drop in sales. Some companies have taken it upon themselves to provide transparent nutrition information to consumers: earlier this year, Mars endorsed recommendations from the WHO that people should limit their intake of added sugars to no more than 10 percent of their total calorie intake, and supported a new US Government proposal to include “added sugars” in the Nutrition Facts on all food packaging. (Sustainable Brands)
Community Investment
Astellas Pharma helps hundreds of Kenyan women with fistula
A campaign to help treat Kenyan women suffering from obstetric fistula has resulted in 582 patients being treated since its launch a year ago. Action on Fistula is led by the charity Fistula Foundation and funded by Astellas Pharma EMEA, in a bid to provide life-changing reconstructive surgery to women across Kenya. The campaign’s aim is to eventually treat 1,200 women suffering from injury by mid-2017, and it is currently well on course, with patients’ ages ranging from seven to 90, and one woman being treated after suffering with the condition for 51 years. Another aim of the programme is to double the number of trained surgeons in Kenya, and the first two surgeons supported by the campaign have now begun training. In order to ensure that women living with fistula in rural communities can be helped, local organisations have trained 136 community health workers, conducted 850 outreach activities and reached 60,000 community members in 18 counties. (FIGO; PR Newswire)
Corporate Reputation
French court confirms Monsanto guilty of chemical poisoning
A French court upheld on Thursday a 2012 ruling in which Monsanto was found guilty of chemical poisoning of a French farmer, who says he suffered neurological problems after inhaling the US company’s Lasso weedkiller. The decision by an appeal court in Lyon, southeast France, confirmed the initial judgment that ruled Monsanto was “responsible” for the intoxication and ordered the company to “fully compensate” grain grower Paul Francois. Monsanto’s lawyer said the US biotech company would now take the case to France’s highest appeal court. Francois, who says he suffered memory loss, headaches and stammering after inhaling Monsanto’s Lasso in 2004, blames the agri-business giant for not providing adequate warnings on the product label. Lasso was banned in France in 2007 after the product had already been withdrawn in other countries such as Canada, Belgium and Britain. (Reuters ; Fox News)
Environment
Southern Ocean showing ‘remarkable’ revival in carbon absorption ability
The Southern Ocean is showing signs of an unexpected revival in its ability to absorb CO2, according to scientists. About 40% of ocean CO2 absorption occurs in the Southern Ocean, making it the planet’s strongest ocean carbon sink. Earlier studies had suggested that rising emissions had brought about the saturation of the Southern Ocean in the 1980s, with higher wind speeds limiting absorption by bringing carbon-rich waters to the surface. This was itself a consequence of climate change, they said, creating a feedback loop that would only get worse over time. But the new report published in the journal Science shows that this downward trend in capacity reversed around 2002, and regained its former strength in line with rising emissions by 2012. The scientists put the change down to a combination of dropping water surface temperatures and a change in ocean circulation keeping carbon rich waters below those at the surface. (Guardian)
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