McDonald’s pledges to spend £79m on British potatoes

The potato industry is to get a £9m boost after McDonald’s UK said 100% of its French fries are now made from British potatoes.

About 87% of the company’s fries were made from British potatoes last year, totalling about £70m and the move to 100% British represents an additional £9m.

See also: Potato campaign aims to build consumption among younger people

The fast-food giant’s hash browns and potato rosti are now 100% British as well, although McDonald’s said its French fries were its top seller in 2014.

“Long-term commitment” to British growers

Connor McVeigh, UK head of supply chain, said: “We understand the challenges facing the British potato industry around market volatility, particularly against a backdrop of poor harvests and extreme weather events.

“As part of our long-term commitment to source locally wherever possible, we want to set down a marker by working alongside our suppliers and their growers to commit to 100% British potatoes for our fries.

“Market volatility has played a significant part in preventing us from sourcing 100% British potatoes for fries and we have had to source a certain percentage from the continent when British potatoes are unavailable.

“However, we recognise that in order to support the British potato sector all year round, year on year, we need to create market stability through long-term agreements.

“We hope this approach will increase confidence within the potato industry to increase investment and therefore encourage an increase in British potato volumes so we have quality ingredients to serve to our 3.5 million customers every day.”

McDonald’s French fries, hash browns and potato rostis equated to 250,000t of potatoes overall last year and 5,000ha of UK farmland.