11/15/05 McDonald`s and animal ID

American Rancher November 15, 2005 The person responsible for all the beef purchases by McDonald's in the U.S., Rob Cannell, says having an animal ID system is a consumer confidence issue for the fast food giant. Cannell: "As crises occur the ability of the U.S. government and the regulatory agencies, the animal health agencies to take meaningful, quick responsive action to whatever crisis that might be in the future we feel is very important to the ongoing health of the beef industry. And as the largest purchaser of beef in the U.S. we consider that important for our health as well." Cannell participated in a marketing panel at last week's annual convention of the Washington Cattlemen's Association. He would like to see a quicker implementation of a national ID system. Cannell: "You know a system could be implemented and it would still be years before a meaningful number of cattle become tagged that we have something that would actually function. So my opinion is it has to start now or as quickly as possible. The same plan has been out there with a number of year extensions on it as we all know. Certainly it can't happen too fast for us." The only details of a system McDonald's cares about from the animal health perspective are pretty basic. Cannel: "When was it born. Where was it born and where has it been." Cannell says McDonald's is paying suppliers some premiums for beef from source verified cattle. I'm Bob Hoff