McDonald’s to serve 100% British chicken at London 2012 Olympics

International fast food chain McDonald’s has said that it would only serve British chicken at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, following pressure from the UK Green Party.

The company was planning to import most of the chicken meat from countries such as Brazil and Thailand, which could have led to the snubbing of local farmers and greater emissions due to long-distance air transport.

Earlier this month, in response to a question from Green Party London Mayoral candidate Jenny Jones, the London Olympic and Paralympic organising committee (LOCOG) chair Lord Coe admitted that most of the Olympic chicken meat would be sourced from outside the UK.

Jenny Jones demanded McDonald’s to increase domestic chicken supply from 10% to 90%, following which McDonald’s backed down and said it would use 100% British chicken.

A McDonald’s spokesman told the Telegraph that recent comments made on sourcing chicken from outside UK has created some confusion in the minds of the customers about the company’s commitment to British farming and to the Games.

"We have taken the decision to only serve British chicken in our four restaurants at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games," the spokesman added.

Commenting on the development, Jenny Jones said that this decision is a real success for British farmers and the people of London.

"McDonalds should now go much further and stop using intensively reared chicken from broiler sheds where a chicken may only have the equivalent space of an A4 piece of paper. It’s time for McDonalds to do the right thing and switch to Free Range or RSPCA Freedom Food assured British reared chicken as their minimum welfare sourcing standard," Jones added.

McDonald’s is expected to serve more than 30,000t of chicken, mostly in its chicken nuggets dish, at its four new Olympic venue restaurants.

Image: McDonald’s was planning to import most of the chicken from outside UK but now pledged to use only British poultry. Photo: McDonald’s