Our Strategy
We recognize the need for continuous improvement with respect to animal welfare and are committed to the ongoing evaluation and adoption of best practices within the industry, our supply chain and others.
Our strategy starts with building a foundational understanding of current industry practices and opportunities, how these differ around the world, and combines this understanding with a realistic assessment of how these factors can be expected to evolve over time.
The approach we take considers the principles of being expert-informed, outcomes-focused, evidence-based, collaborative, holistic, and accountable.
- Informed By Experts: We regularly consult a range of recognized subject matter experts from industry and academia to access guidance on our policies, implementation strategies, and to challenge the way we think. Drawing on their expertise, we are evolving and working to publish global welfare policies for each protein as well as policies on the responsible use of antibiotics. In early 2023, we established a supplier advisory council focused specifically on broiler welfare, to leverage their practical expertise in determining and implementing best practices for our supply chain.
- Outcome-Focused: While our standards for animal welfare are global, they incorporate the geographic variations in the way animals are raised within a global supply chain. In this regard, we have come to realize that a focus on a desired outcome is the best approach, allowing the local producer to achieve that outcome based on their management system.
- Measurable: In 2021, a global cross-functional team helped to define globally aligned farm- and processing-level key welfare indicators (KWIs) for chicken, to help us assess welfare outcomes. We aim to begin measurement against these indicators in 2023, starting with chicken in the US. The KWIs are objective measurements aligned with recognized national and international standards such as the World Organization for Animal Health and the National Chicken Council.
- Informed By Research: We are partnering with suppliers and academics to test a variety of innovations across the supply chain and measure their respective impact on behaviour and welfare outcomes. We are working to identify and validate opportunities for future investment that are solidly based on data and evidence.
- Collaborative: We know that we can’t go it alone. We believe that animal health and welfare is a pre-competitive opportunity and we are increasingly investing in cross-sector collaboration to support progress across the entire industry. We recently became members of the US Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry and Eggs as well as the International Poultry Welfare Alliance in order to engage with the industry at-large as it redefines its guidelines for enhanced broiler welfare. We are also members of the GRSB and USRSB, and we are aligned with their newly published beef welfare goal.
- Holistic: We consider the full sustainability impacts of any approach, including impacts on greenhouse gas
emissions, water use, and land use, as well as commercial viability.
- Accountable: Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Hortons beef and poultry core product suppliers, worldwide, can
only use approved raw materials from suppliers which have submitted annual third-party audits that include animal welfare
standards. Standards for animal welfare in the US and Canada include those from the American Meat Institute and National
Chicken Council. Suppliers are audited for their compliance to these standards, and RBI will place on probation, or may even
terminate its business relationship, with any vendor that violates these requirements, until they successfully implement a
corrective action plan. Suppliers of products subject to specific responsible sourcing commitments must provide and maintain
on record, an annual letter of guarantee to support their compliance with applicable commitments.
Use of Antibiotics
In many parts of the world, the raising of animals for human consumption relies on the use of antibiotics. This and other modern animal husbandry practices in some cases can drive antibiotic use in the livestock industry. In addition, the WHO state that the “overuse and misuse of antibiotics in animals and humans is contributing to the raising threat of antibiotic resistance.” (AMR). AMR is particularly concerning when it impacts antibiotics that are in the classes that are important to human medicine.
As a global buyer of animal proteins and animal products, we acknowledge that we have an important role to play in preserving the effectiveness of antibiotics. Our aim is to support the use of animal husbandry practises that reduce and, where possible, eliminate the need for antibiotic therapies in animals. Leading practises minimize the occurrence of diseases, prioritize prevention, hygiene, and vaccination, and by using our global reach we aim to help identify and scale effective solutions that progressive farms already employ.
When preventive and alternative measures are no longer sufficient to maintain animal health, antibiotics use must not be withheld if it will jeopardize an animal’s wellbeing. RBI supports principles of judicious use, which require providing the right type and dose, at the right time, to the right animals, when necessary, to treat the correctly identified pathogen or disease, administered under the supervision of an attending veterinarian. Employment of the judicious use doctrine does not permit the routine use of antibiotics important to human medicine for growth promotion and disease prevention. In the presence of a known pathogen, we support judicious use of antimicrobials to prevent illness and secure flock/group health and well-being. Antibiotics specific to animals that are not important to human medicine should be considered for application first whenever feasible. When antibiotics are used, our approved protein suppliers are required by applicable law to adhere to legislated antibiotic withdrawal times. These practices ensure that all antibiotics have cleared each animal’s system before it enters the food supply.
We have worked closely with our suppliers and subject matter experts to study the use of antibiotics in protein supply chains globally, and it was clear that each protein industry is at a different stage of maturity related to reducing the use of antibiotics, and practices can differ significantly between geographies.
Of our key proteins, the poultry supply chain is the most vertically integrated, and where this is the case, it is more feasible today to maintain traceability from the barn to the final product. This structure has been an important supporting factor in ability of the industry to drive reductions in antibiotics use over time, particularly in our home markets in North America. The chicken used in approved products for Burger King (U.S.) is raised without the use of antibiotics important to human medicine as defined by the World Health Organization1. As of Q2 2022, Popeyes (U.S.) has also completed the transition of the chicken used in their approved products to be raised without the use of antibiotics important to human medicine1. Today, the chicken used in approved products for Tim Hortons (Canada) adheres to the Chicken Farmers’ of Canada’s Food Safety Program, which prohibits the preventative use of antibiotics of high importance and very high importance to human medicine, as defined by Health Canada2. Due to supply constraints and increasing demand in Canada, we will reassess meeting the NAIHM3 standard for Tim Hortons Canada’s chicken for future supply.
In contrast to poultry, the majority of the global beef supply chain is not vertically integrated from farm to processing and packing. Systems to trace and maintain records of antibiotics use through the full supply chain, when the meat in a standard beef product (like a burger patty, for example) originates from various animals bred at various locations, are not readily available today. Because of the limited data available across the global beef industry, measuring the current use of antibiotics and monitoring for reductions in usage poses a significant challenge, for which we are seeking solutions.
As part of our antibiotic stewardship program, we will work with our global suppliers and franchisees to encourage the following pertaining to the use of antibiotics in the beef supply chain:
- Reduction in the use of antibiotics designated as Highest Priority Critically Important1 where possible, without negatively impacting animal welfare
- Reduction in the routine preventative use of antibiotics
- Reduction in the use of antibiotics to promote growth
We face similar challenges of traceability within the pork supply chain globally as well, and aim to define our vision through the future development of an antibiotics policy specific to this protein.
While we continue to work closely with our supply chain to identify opportunities to monitor and limit the use of medically important antibiotics in our land-based proteins, we have developed policies informed by a wide variety of expert stakeholders, that detail our species-specific commitments and expectations, as well as our approach to accountability and transparency.
1 As defined by the World Health Organization in Critically Important Antimicrobials for Human Medicine 6th Revision 2018.
2 As defined by Health Canada Categorization of Antimicrobial Drugs Based on Importance in Human Medicine, 2009
3 NAIHM: No antibiotics important to human medicine, as defined by the World Health Organization in Critically Important Antimicrobials for Human Medicine 6th Revision 2018.
Cage Free Eggs
At Burger King®, Tim Hortons® and Popeyes® restaurants, our commitment is to transition to cage-free eggs globally. This includes 100% of whole eggs, liquid eggs, egg products and egg ingredients where egg makes up greater than 1% of an approved product’s formulation.
We rely on farmers and vendors around the world that serve the 100+ countries we operate in to be able to directly and indirectly supply the large volume of eggs that we require and to do so affordably. In countries where no supply exists today, we believe that creating global demand will encourage suppliers to make changes to meet our policy requirements.
In 2020, when we expanded our cage-free egg commitment globally, we established the goal to achieve 100% compliance in North America, Western Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand by the end of 2025. These markets represent the vast majority (~87%)1 of our global egg requirements. In the other regions that represent 13%1 of our global egg volume, we set the goal too use 100% cage-free eggs by 2030 or earlier.
We’ve been working closely with suppliers and farmers to plan for the investments needed in new production systems that will support this transition. While COVID-19 and other external factors have impacted our progress to date more than we hoped, we continue to work together on a plan to move to 100% for all markets around the world.
Today in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, whole eggs used at Burger King are already produced by laying hens reared in cage-free systems. This translates to an expected compliance achievement of about 6%1 of our global egg requirements as of 2022.
We are now on track to use 100% cage-free eggs in Western Europe, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, as well as Popeyes and Tim Hortons in the United States and Popeyes Canada by the end of 2025. This translates to an expected achievement of about 11%1 of our global egg requirements. We are also on track to use 100% cage-free eggs for Burger King in the United States and Canada by the end of 2026, translating to an expected achievement of about 40%1 of our global egg requirements being compliant by this time.
Elsewhere around the world, we are committed to use 100% cage-free eggs by 2030 or earlier.
The most significant change to our cage-free egg goals is related to Tim Hortons Canada, which today represents about 47% of our global egg requirements, and for which we now expect to achieve 100% compliance by the end of 2030. This change is a result of a limited availability of cage free egg supply in the short term, as the proportion of farms in Canada that have transitioned to cage-free systems has evolved more slowly than anticipated, due to limited demand from consumers and other retailers in the market. We remain committed to working hand-in-hand with our suppliers and farmers to expand this supply, and introducing it into restaurants in a way that is affordable for guests. Tim Hortons continues sourcing farm-to-table fresh eggs from Canadian egg farmers for all its breakfast sandwiches and is proudly displaying the Egg Quality Assurance™ (EQA™) certification mark where possible, which is a symbol of the highest quality standards Canadian egg farmers are dedicated to meet, including national food safety and animal care standards.
Firehouse Subs is now working towards transitioning to cage-free eggs by the end of 2027 in North America, and is assessing feasibility to determine the date for which they will be compliant in other markets.
We will continue to report progress through our RBI website and Restaurant Brands for Good report, updated at least annually.
1 Based on 2021 volumes, and estimates as of November 2022, excluding Firehouse Subs.
Sow Housing
We’re working in conjunction with our vendors to drive continuous improvement in the housing of sows and piglets.
The Burger King®, Tim Hortons® and Popeyes® brands are committed to eliminating the use of gestation crates for housing pregnant sows in our supply chain globally. In early 2020, when we expanded our sow housing commitment globally, we established the goal to maintain full compliance in our European1 and African markets, and achieve full compliance in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand by 2022, in Latin America by 2025, in Russia & CIS by 2030 and in Asia Pacific by 2035 or sooner.
We have now achieved compliance for 33%2 of global pork supply as of the end of 2022, which includes maintaining full compliance in our European1 and African markets, reaching full compliance for Burger King New Zealand, Popeyes in the United States and Canada, and achieving partial compliance for Burger King in the United States.
For Burger King and Tim Hortons in the United States and Canada, as well as Burger King in Australia3, we are now on track to achieve full compliance by the end of 2024. This would contribute to RBI achieving compliance for an estimated 94%2 of global pork requirements by the end of 2024. This extended timeline aims to strike a balance between navigating one of the most challenging business environments in recent history and ensuring franchisees can remain profitable while also making meaningful progress towards our animal welfare and other sustainability goals across the business.
In remaining markets representing about 6%2 of our global pork requirements, we will be compliant in Latin America by 2025, in CIS by 2030 and in Asia Pacific by 2035 or sooner.
Firehouse Subs is assessing feasibility to determine the date for which they will be compliant with the objective of eliminating the use of gestation crates for housing pregnant sows in our supply chain.
In the long term, we hope to eliminate the use of gestation crates for non-pregnant sows in our supply chain, starting with our goal to achieve this in our European1 markets by 2030 or sooner.
We recognize that farrowing systems need to achieve a balance between sow and piglet welfare, and it's our vision that the farrowing systems in our supply chain be appropriate to the sow’s size, permit increased movement and the expression of natural behaviours and do not increase piglet mortality.
Achieving these targets requires our vendors and farmers around the world to supply the large volume of compliant pork that we require at commercially viable prices. We believe that by creating this global demand, we will encourage vendors and the industry to make the necessary changes to meet our requirements, especially in countries where the use of gestation crates is still the standard farming practice.
We will continue to report progress through our RBI website and Restaurant Brands for Good report, updated at least annually.
1 Europe defined as excluding Russia & CIS
2 Based on 2021 volumes and estimates as of November 2022, excluding Firehouse Subs.
3 Burger King in Australia operates under the trademark "Hungry Jacks".
Broiler Chicken Welfare
In 2017, to support the continuous improvement of broiler chicken welfare in our supply chain, our brands established a vision to achieve the following in the United States and Canada by 2024:
- Enhance living environments including litter quality, lighting and enrichments, per GAP Standards
- Utilize a multi-step controlled-atmosphere stunning system.
- Provide more space by reducing maximum stocking density, per GAP Standards
- Transition to using breeds determined to have better welfare outcomes
- Ask our suppliers to verify their progress via third party auditing
We committed to working with our suppliers, animal welfare experts, and others in our industry to align on these solutions, recognizing that wide-scale change will take time and must be undertaken in a thoughtful manner using best practices supported by science and rigorous research, while always prioritizing the ability of our brands to serve safe, quality chicken.
We’ve since assessed present opportunities and challenges related to our 2017 vision, which continues today as we shift towards on-farm testing and implementation. Below, we’ve summarized our progress to date as well as next steps. In doing so, we aim to be transparent about what we’ve learned as well as where the roadmap is not yet clear, while our work continues.
Our Progress
Taking a collaborative, expert-informed, and evidence-based approach:
- To help guide us through this work, we became members of the US Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry and Eggs (US-RSPE) as well as the International Poultry Welfare Alliance (IPWA).
- In alignment with guidance from the IPWA, we are in the process of formalizing global key welfare indicators (KWIs) for our chicken supply chain, with the intent to help us better measure, monitor, and manage broiler welfare outcomes in partnership with our suppliers. We plan to work with our suppliers to establish data collection systems and drive progress over time through data-based decision making.
- We have established a supplier advisory council focused specifically on broiler welfare, to leverage their practical expertise in determining best practises for our supply chain.
- We are investing in pilot tests in partnership with our supplier advisory councils and leading academic advisors and universities. Our goal is to better understand impacts specific to our supply chain in terms of welfare outcomes as measured through our KWIs, as well as the commercial feasibility of implementation, related to production parameters detailed below.
Enrichments:
- Provision of enrichment within broiler houses, such as huts, ramps, perches or pecking objects, can provide the birds with a more stimulating environment and promote natural behaviours.
- In 2021 we partnered with a US supplier to pilot a range of on-farm environmental enrichments that promote natural behaviours, in order to determine which were most effective in terms of welfare outcomes.
- Building on encouraging results to date, we would like better understand several factors which we have started testing in 2023, as we work to fine-tune the approach to enrichments for our supply chain together with our suppliers. These factors include how welfare is affected by varying the number of enrichments, validating outcomes with birds of a different target market weight, as well as further studying changes in feed conversion and farm labour.
- We plan to communicate guidance on enrichments to our suppliers following completion of the remaining pilot tests.
Lighting:
- We know that birds see light differently than humans, and are more sensitive to light than we are. Appropriate lighting and darkness in the chicken’s environment is important to support the circadian rhythm of the birds, mitigate stress, and promote natural behaviours and overall health.
- Today, industry guidelines exist to inform practices, but they vary regionally.
- In 2023, we began piloting a variety of lighting programs in order to validate impacts on welfare outcomes within the context of our supply chain, as well as further studying changes in feed conversion and bodyweight of the birds.
- We plan to communicate guidance on lighting (including light intensity, light distribution, and hours of darkness) to our suppliers following completion of pilot tests.
Stunning:
- Today, 100% of all U.S. poultry for Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Hortons are required to be stunned per United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) requirements, and 100% of all Canadian poultry for these brands is required to be stunned per Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) requirements.
- We are working with suppliers and equipment manufacturers to evaluate the impact on welfare outcomes as well as commercial implications of transitioning to Controlled Atmosphere Stunning (CAS), a method not widely available in North America today. Key challenges include high costs associated with complete overhaul of existing stunning facilities at each supplier as well as reliable availability of liquid carbon dioxide, which is critical to operate the system and for which the industry has recently experienced shortages. We would also like to better understand the potential impact that a transition to CAS would have on RBI’s greenhouse gas footprint.
Breed Selection:
- Key criteria in selecting a suitable breed include leg strength, health and welfare. Today, commercially bred breeds are sourced that are suited to the local environment, housing and management used.
- We continue to follow new developments in the area of breed use and work with our suppliers, the world’s largest broiler genetic companies, and other industry leaders to better understand the impacts related to slower growing breeds considered to have higher welfare potential.
- Key challenges related to the use of slower growing breeds include impact on overall environmental sustainability, including increased greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and water use, as well as potential efficiency losses. Another challenge in certain geographies is that alternative, slower-growing breeds are not yet widely available.
- We are in the process of reviewing available research related to the impact of breed on welfare outcomes.
Stocking Densities:
- Stocking density refers to the amount of housing space available per bird, relative to their weight. Today, industry guidelines exist to inform practices, but they vary regionally.
- We are in the process of collecting the actual stocking densities used by our suppliers.
- Stocking densities will then be reviewed by region with the goal of enabling healthy growth, mobility, and expression of natural behaviours.
We know there’s more work to do, and we intend to keep all our stakeholders informed as we continue to seek solutions that are sustainable in every way: aligning the objectives of maintaining broiler health and welfare, supporting farmer livelihoods, responsibly managing our environmental impact, and meeting the expectations of guests in our brands’ restaurants.