Burger chain switches to ethical coffee

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McDonald's is to serve 'ethically sourced' coffee at all its European outlets. The fast food giant started by switching to Rainforest Alliance-certified coffee in all its 1200 British outlets last month and says the policy will extend to the rest of Europe by the end of the year. It sells about 143,000 cups of coffee daily in the UK alone.

All the coffee, under the Kenco brand, will come from farms certified by the Rainforest Alliance to its social and environmental standards in conjunction with Utz Kapeh, a Dutch non-profit organization. Other businesses working with the Rainforest Alliance are the coffee manufacturer Lavazza, the consumer products group Procter & Gamble, and coffee-shop chain Starbucks.

Farmers are guaranteed a premium of about 25 US cents (13p) more per pound of coffee than they would otherwise get. The company will absorb the costs. The new decision follows a recent switch by McDonald's to source all fish sold in its UK restaurants from fisheries approved as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council.