From Cage-Free Eggs to More Natural Nacho Cheese – Food Companies Make Commitments for a Greater Sustainable Supply Chain

Consumers are increasingly demanding products that are produced and sourced responsibly and are more willing to pay a higher price for such products. A variety of food companies are taking note of this trend, focusing on more environmentally-friendly, climate-conscious and anti-animal cruelty practices.

It’s a smart move for food companies to make, according to consumer research. For instance, a recent white paper written jointly by representatives fromDeloitte和TechnoMic标题为“食品行业物流：重要的消费者的趋势预期食品公司”responsible environmental stewards。”

消费者也要求更多地提供有关他们的食品是如何源的。“消费者越来越关注越来越多的社会和环境的影响和碳足迹和动物治疗，有助于随着需求模式的快速变化，”本文的作者写道。

Below, we’ve rounded up some of the companies that recently have made pledges to create a more sustainable supply chain.

McDonalds

Earlier this week, the major fast food corporation announced it would begin shifting toward only using cage-free eggs, meaning eggs from chickens that live outside of a cage in a barn or aviary but generally spend little or no time outdoors. Note, this is different from “free-range” eggs, which are sourced from chickens who do have access to the outdoors. McDonald’s goal is to be 100% cage free in 10 years. While the effort is admirable and will likely please consumers who are concerned about animal rights, McDonald’s goal won’t be easy to achieve.

纽约时报reported less than 10%所有铺设母鸡在美国都是“笼子自由”。McDonald’s uses 2 billion eggs a year, or roughly 4% of the 43.46 billion eggs produced in the US in 2014. (Just think of all the Egg McMuffins made – one egg is used per breakfast sandwich.) Add the recent outbreak of the avian flu, which has killed millions of laying hens so far this year, causing egg production to fall 9% and hiking up the price of eggs around the country, and McDonald’s latest pledge will no doubt be challenging.

无笼的移动也是麦当劳更广泛的改进其形象的一部分。上个月它说它会stop working with a chicken supplierit used to make McNuggets after watchdog group Mercy for Animals documented abuse at the supplier’s farm in Tennessee.

美国人道社会总裁兼首席执行官韦恩·普罗尔（Wayne Pacelle告诉华尔街日报麦当劳无笼的承诺是一个“流域时刻”。

General Mills

虽然普通工厂最近最近使头条新闻具有承诺reducing carbon emissionsfrom its supply chain by 30% over the next decade, the company announced earlier this summer that it, too, would make theswitch to cage-free eggs。该公司,这使得流行Chee之类的东西rios and Yoplait yogurt, may already be sourcing free-range eggs for itsHäagen-Dazs ice cream in Europe but will expand to using cage-free eggs for all its US operations. Steve Peterson, director of sustainable sourcing at General Mills, also said he expected the move to be challenging for reasons stated earlier in this article.

Taco Bell, Pizza Hut

Earlier this year, other fast food chains announced a move to make their products more natural. Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, both owned by Yum Brands, said in May they would remove artificial ingredients and colors from their products by the end of 2015. Products like Taco Bell’s nacho cheese, for instance, would no longer use "yellow No. 6” food dyeand its beef would be seasoned with actual black pepper instead of “black pepper flavor.”

The taco fast food company said artificial ingredients would be removed from 95% of its menu. Items like drinks and co-branded products, such as those made with Doritos, would still include artificial flavors and dyes.

Pizza Hut, too, said it would nix fake coloring and flavors from nearly all of its pizzas.

Panera

Also in May, Panera Bread宣布它会删除certain artificial flavors, sweeteners, colors and preservatives from its menu by the end of 2016. What made this announcement stand out perhaps compared with other similar ones is that Panera published a full list of ingredients specifying which artificial items would be removed from its food. While the silly sounding name of the list, the “No No List,” seems to diminish the significance and seriousness of this step, it at least provides a higher level of insight into Panera’s plan. Included on the list are recognizable items such as caffeine, caramel color and artificial trans fats, and hard to pronounce ingredients such as tertiary butylhydroquinone and ethoxyquin.

还有其他公司在今年取得了类似的承诺，仍有重要的工作要做，使食品供应链更加可持续。然而，很高兴看到主要公司采取类似的措施，我们希望更多将继续这样做。