Dick Adams, a former McDonald's executive and franchisee consultant put the blame for Cantalupo's death squarely on".international travel. International travel takes a toll on industry executives, resulting in numerous premature deaths, said Adams, ignoring any mention of unhealthy diets, "He was doing an extensive amount of international travel," he said. "That's about the most stressful thing you can do to yourself."
Cantalupo was swiftly replaced by Charlie Bell, who, at 44, was the youngest chief executive ever named by McDonalds. But a month after he assumed the post, Bell was diagnosed with colon cancer and passed away eight months later. Again, the dietary overtones could not be ignored since a high consumption of red meat is highly linked to an increased risk of colon cancer.
McCruelty to Animals
Because McDonald's is the largest purchaser of beef and pork in the U.S and the second-largest purchaser of chicken, it perpetuates the horrors of factory farming and is also in a position to reform them. One-fourth of all breakfasts eaten in restaurants in the U.S., for example, come from McDonald's. Following the launch of PETA's original McCruelty campaign in 2000, "McDonald's made some basic animal welfare improvements," says the animal rights group but, "Since that time, the company has refused to eliminate the worst abuses that its chickens suffer, including abuses during slaughter."
No kidding. Last year, shocking video of cruelty obtained by Mercy For Animals at the McDonald's supplier Sparboe Egg Farms in Litchfield, Minnesota, showed the public where its Egg McMuffins are actually coming from. Hens at Sparboe, which was producing all the eggs used by McDonald's west of the Mississippi River, were shown trapped and mangled in cage wire, some with open wounds, the dead among the living. Workers were shown grabbing, ramming and tormenting the birds and throwing young chicks in plastic bags to suffocate.
"Based upon recent information, we have informed our direct supplier, Cargill, that we are no longer accepting eggs from its supplier, Sparboe," said McDonald's after viewing the video. "This decision is based on McDonald's and Cargill's concern regarding the management of Sparboe's facilities." But Mercy For Animals executive director Nathan Runkle termed the decision "too little, too late."
Runkle seems to be right. On its website, McDonald's answer the question, "Why don't you use cage-free eggs?" with this: "In the U.S., there is no consensus or firm scientific research on whether one type of housing system is better than the other, which leads to a lot of confusion." Scientific research is needed to see mangled, pinned and dead birds in battery cages?
Contaminated Meat in China, Shuttered Stores in Russia
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