New Zealand farmers, growers and food producers supplied $580 million worth of ingredients to McDonald’s restaurants here and overseas in 2025, the biggest total on record.

Simon Kenny, head of impact and communications at McDonald’s New Zealand, says the chain has tracked what it calls its shopping list for a decade.

“Virtually everything on our menu, over 90% of what you eat in McDonald’s, is sourced locally,” he says.

Beef drove the increase, with McDonald’s taking about 10% of all New Zealand’s beef exports.

“New Zealand is important to McDonald’s because of the surety of supply of beef, the quality, the grass-fed, pasture-raised, leaner beef suits the McDonald’s system.”

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.

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