Poultry
Cargill’s European poultry business is a leading supplier and innovator of primary and further processed chicken products for retail, food service and food manufacturing customers.
In France, the business has implemented a fully integrated, local supply chain for its further processing plant in Orléans, predominantly producing breaded chicken products from a number of approved suppliers.
Cargill has been a leading provider of breaded chicken products to McDonald’s France for more than 20 years. Cargill supplies Chicken McNuggets™, as well as the breaded chicken used in sandwiches, wraps and salads served in around 3000 McDonald’s restaurants in France and Europe.
Traceability from farm to fork
Cargill is able to monitor the whole supply chain from farm to restaurant to ensure high process and food safety standards.
By partnering with suppliers, Cargill has implemented a highly efficient traceability system. On the farm, each new batch of chicks is given a unique number that means their origin can be traced. At the slaughterhouse and then the production site, consignments of meat are identified by batch numbers and finally at the end of production, a manufacturing code appears on the bags of final product. Checks are performed every hour throughout the entire production process. Cargill is able to trace every finished product back to its original batch of meat within three hours and the system is tested regularly.
French rearing standards
In France, the chickens are reared within specially controlled environments that are managed with strict bio-security procedures to provide protection from potential illness and predators.
They are:
- Able to roam freely and to express natural behaviors, with unrestricted access to food and fresh water
- Monitored a minimum of twice daily
- Provided with a balanced vegetarian diet, made from wheat, corn, soy, rapeseed meal, vitamins and minerals
Chicken Supply Chain in France
A commitment to develop a sustainable chicken supply chain in France, from farm to fork.
Cargill is committed to conducting all aspects of our business with absolute integrity and providing safe, nutritious and affordable chicken. For us, sustainability is building responsible and sustainable supply chains from farm to fork.
We do this by minimizing the environmental impact of our operations and supply chains, respecting the animals in our care and improving welfare standards. To achieve this, Cargill has set up several types of actions:
- Conducting annual third-party food safety audits at all our facilities.
- Maintaining best in class health and safety records – both by protecting our people and ensuring the safety of our products.
- Undertaking carbon and water foot printing of our European supply chains from farm to fork.
- Working together with the Nature Conservancy, we are helping to prevent illegal deforestation and contributing to a more responsible soybean supply chain.
These long term actions have already permitted us to achieve some significant results:
- 19% reduction in water use at all our sites since 2010.
- 19% reduction in energy use in our processing sites since 2010.
- 97% of waste is recycled in our operations.
- 1st chicken producer to carry out carbon foot printing from farm to fork.
In addition, animal welfare is another huge priority. Cargill is committed to treating the animals in our supply chain with care and respect. We continually evaluate new practices and technologies to promote best animal welfare practices, some of which include:
- Supporting Oxford University since 2011 to develop video motion equipment that facilitates early detection of certain potential health problems in flocks.
- Providing natural light and enriched environments in chicken houses in the UK to stimulate bird activity and natural behaviors.