McDonald’s opens farm gates for Olympic borough schools

School children from Hackney and the five other London boroughs surrounding the Olympic Park were given a one-off opportunity to visit the Food Animal Initiative’s (FAI) farm in Oxfordshire today

School children from the six London boroughs surrounding the Olympic Park, including pupils from Holmleigh Primary School in Hackney, were given a one-off opportunity to visit the Food Animal Initiative’s (FAI) farm in Oxfordshire today.

The two school trips, organised by McDonald’s, are part of McDonald’s ‘Open Farms’ programme, which raises awareness of the key role British and Irish farms will play in providing produce for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. However,  as a supplier of food to the the Games, McDonald’s is not without its critics.

Year Four pupils from schools in east London boroughs closest to the Olympic and Paralympic Park for 2012 –  Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Waltham Forest, Greenwich and Barking and Dagenham – spent the day on a farm which supplies some of the food for McDonald’s menu and saw firsthand the very best in standards and welfare that it demonstrates.

The children, aged eight and nine, had the chance to see livestock including cows, pigs, chickens and sheep and also took part in Olympic themed activities that linked their observations and experiences to areas in the school curriculum such as science, physical education and citizenship.

McDonald’s is a founding  supporter of the FAI, a ground-breaking centre for agricultural research in the UK set up by a group of farmers in 1998, and is committed to helping the organisation develop new farming methods that will improve animal welfare, protect the countryside, and produce higher quality food. McDonald’s encourages the adoption of these new approaches on the 17,500 British and Irish farms that supply quality food for its menu.

Mike Gooding from the FAI commented: “It’s incredibly important that we educate young people about how farms work and the standards in welfare that are needed to produce the best quality food. We’re pleased to support McDonald’s Open Farms programme to help teach pupils about the provenance of the menu which will be used to supply the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

Warren Anderson, Head of Supply Chain for McDonalds UK commented: “The farms supplying the Olympics and Paralympics are fantastic examples of the quality and welfare standards we expect from our suppliers, and we are keen to showcase them.

“Education is a key element of the Open Farms programme, and this is a great opportunity for school children from the six boroughs surrounding the London 2012 Olympic Park to understand how the farms which will feed the Games operate day-to-day. By promoting the best of British agriculture amongst young people, we hope to secure an Olympic legacy of a stronger farming sector.”

The two visits follow a formal launch of the Open Farms programme at the Olympic Park last May. The event was attended by LOCOG Chair Lord Seb Coe, LOCOG’s Food Advisory Group, and senior figures from the world of agriculture.

At the launch Lord Seb Coe said: “We want to enhance everyone’s experience of the Games by celebrating the great diversity and quality of British food on offer. The sheer scale of providing 14 million meals in just four weeks means this is a genuine opportunity for British agriculture. The strong partnerships McDonald’s has built with British and Irish agriculture will help us deliver the food vision we have set out for the Games and help us deliver an Olympic legacy for farming.”

Commenting on the schoolchildren’s visit to the Food Animal Initiative’s (FAI) farm, Green party London Assembly Member Jenny Jones said: “Whilst I would always support children visiting farms, I have grave concerns about the appropriateness of the fast food giant, McDonald’s, the purveyor of highly processed, high fat, salt and sugar foods and drinks, organising school visits to farms.

“Many of the children in the Olympic boroughs already suffer from a high incidence of obesity and are unduly influenced by the fast food industry.

“McDonald’s stress the welfare standards of the food they will serve at the Olympics and Paralympics but have failed to give me assurances that they will only serve free range chicken as an absolute minimum standard.

“Unless they u-turn, people will be eating McDonalds chicken sourced from crowded sheds where they may have no more space than a sheet of A4 paper, or see any natural daylight during their short lifespans. I doubt that these sheds will be on the children’s tour.

Jenny Jones was the Chair of London Food, the Mayor of London’s advisor on food issues betwen 2004-2008. She lobbied LOCOG, the Olympic Games organisers, who are responsible for setting food standards and to McDonald’s for all chicken served at the Games to come from Free Range sources as a minimum standard.