Latest News by Industry
Leslie Samuelrich, one of the activist investor Carl Icahn’s two director nominees at McDonald’s Corp (NYSE: MCD ), said she would push the fast-food giant to tackle sustainability issues.
Icahn, who is running a proxy fight against McDonald’s, is seeking two board seats at the company mainly over the treatment of pigs by the burger chain’s suppliers.
Samuelrich, the president of Green Century Capital Management, in an interview with Reuters, said ending the use of gestation crates would have other benefits like lowering crowded factory farms that cause pollution and will eventually lessen the environmental impact.
Gestation crates are metal enclosures about two feet wide to constrain pregnant swine and prevent sows from turning around, maximizing available space. Some producers say it also prevents the pigs from harming one another.
Samuelrich is well-known for raising voices on corporate environmental issues, including her effort in 2018 that led McDonald’s to agree to restrict the use of antibiotics in its beef supply.
Although she said McDonald’s has not been following through, the burger giant on its website says it is working with partners on responsible use of antibiotics but faced COVID-related delays.
“While we think they’re [McDonald’s] a strong company, they have some vulnerabilities they’re not recognizing on reputational and governance risks,” Samuelrich told Reuters.
She said she conveyed her concerns to three McDonald’s directors in a meeting this week and is hoping that the burger giant will make her a candidate to be elected to its board later this spring.
Picture Credit: Wired