Our Global Commitment to Cage-Free Eggs

At Burger King®, Tim Hortons® and Popeyes®, restaurants, we are committed to the simple principle of doing what's right. As one of the largest quick service restaurant companies in the world, it is both our responsibility and opportunity to advance the issue of sustainability in the food service industry.

Our Restaurant Brands for Good plan is our framework for serving guests the food and drinks they love, while contributing to a sustainable future and having a positive social impact in the communities we serve.

Included in this plan is our global commitment to using 100% cage-free eggs. Technically speaking that would include whole eggs, liquid eggs, egg products and egg ingredients.

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.

We are committed to using 100% cage-free eggs in North America, Western Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand by the end of 2025. These markets represent the vast majority (~92%) of our global egg requirements. In the other regions that represent currently ~8% of our global egg volume, we are committed to using 100% cage-free eggs by 2030 or earlier. The fact remains in these regions, limited or no supply exists today for our brands and in some cases, there is no current path for availability of cage-free eggs for anyone in the industry. Regardless, we are committed to working with suppliers to help them understand our resolve and provide us with cage-free eggs to meet our global commitments.

Our commitment to cage-free eggs distinguishes us as a global leader in three ways. First, our commitment covers all of our restaurants worldwide – including corporately-run and franchisee-operated restaurants. Second, our global commitment includes all forms of egg. Third, our commitment extends to our operations worldwide by 2030, with ~92% of our volume to be converted by the end of 2025.

We will report on our progress in fulfilling this commitment annually within our Restaurant Brands for Good reporting framework.

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.

To increase the welfare of broiler chickens, wide-scale change will take time and must be undertaken in a thoughtful manner using best practices supported by science and rigorous research. The Global Animal Partnership (GAP) standards offers solutions in the areas of breed, stocking density and environment, and we will work with our suppliers, animal welfare experts and others in the industry to align on these solutions.

By 2024, in the US and Canada, Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Hortons will target the following:

• Transition to using breeds determined to have better welfare outcomes
• Provide more space by reducing maximum stocking density, per GAP Standards
• Enhance living environments including litter quality, lighting and enrichments, per GAP Standards
• Utilize a multi-step controlled-atmosphere stunning system

At RBI, we’re working in partnership with our vendors to drive continuous improvement of animal welfare practices in our supply chain, including the housing of sows and piglets.

Our brands are committed to eliminating the use of gestation crates for housing pregnant sows in our supply chain globally. We have achieved compliance in our European* and African markets and will follow in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand by 2022, covering 95% of our global pork volumes. The remaining 5% will be compliant in Latin America by 2025, in Russia & CIS by 2030 and in Asia Pacific by 2035 or sooner.

We’re also working towards eliminating the use of gestation crates for non-pregnant sows in our supply chain, starting by committing to achieve this in our European* markets by 2030 or sooner.

We recognize that farrowing systems need to achieve a balance between sow and piglet welfare, and we are therefore working towards ensuring that the farrowing systems in our supply chain are appropriate to the sow’s size, permit increased movement and the expression of natural behaviors and do not increase piglet mortality.

Fulfilling these commitments 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 report on our progress in fulfilling this commitment annually within our Restaurant Brands for Good reporting framework.

*Europe defined as all of Europe minus Russia & CIS

In many parts of the world the cultivation of animal proteins for human consumption increasingly relies on the routine use of antibiotics in the rearing, feeding, and daily care of livestock. This and other modern animal husbandry practices drive increasing antibiotic use and contributes to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance is particularly concerning when resistance occurs with antibiotics that are important to human medicine. As a major global buyer of animal proteins, RBI has a responsibility to ensure that its business practices to not contribute to or exacerbate the problem of antibiotic resistance.

RBI acknowledges that we have an important role to play in preventing disease resistance and in preserving the effectiveness of antibiotics. We also recognize that antibiotics are required to treat disease to maintain animal health and welfare, thus in keeping with responsible animal welfare practices, antibiotics use must never be withheld if it will jeopardize an animal’s wellbeing.

We continue to collaborate with suppliers and academics, as well as closely monitor the guidance of external experts such as the World Health Organization and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, with respect to the matter of antibiotic resistance.

We expect our approved suppliers to purchase products only from farmers that administer antibiotics in a judicious and responsible manner when treatment is necessary, in keeping with veterinary and regulatory requirements. Treatment of animals with antibiotics must be in full compliance with all applicable requirements and under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian. Antibiotics may not be used for growth-promotion purposes (i.e., feed efficiency, weight gain, etc.) and any unused antibiotics must be disposed of properly.

The chicken used in our sandwiches is raised without antibiotics important to human medicine for Burger King US and Tim Hortons Canada. As applicable, approved suppliers must provide and maintain, on record, an annual letter of guarantee from each of their raw material suppliers as supporting documentation for monitoring of compliance.

The Popeyes brand is working towards eliminating antibiotics important to human medicine* from their chicken supply chain for the US market by end of 2021.

In 2020 we engaged industry experts and suppliers to expand our policy related to antibiotics use in beef cattle and dairy cows. Our next step is to develop a strategy and timeline for implementation. By expanding this policy, our goal is to measure and understand the current use of antibiotics in the beef supply chain of each brand, and implement targets to reduce the use of antibiotics important to human medicine* in our supply chain and to end animal care practises that lead to their overuse.

We will work closely with our supply chain vendors and franchisees to implement these changes and continue to identify opportunities to monitor and limit the use of medically important antibiotics in our other land-based proteins. All our approved protein suppliers are currently 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.

*As defined by the World Health Organization in Critically Important Antimicrobials for Human Medicine 6th Revision 2018.