Burger King Corporation Announces Endorsement Of Guidelines for the Humane Treatment of Animals Guidelines to Serve as Foundation in On-Going Program

MIAMI, April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Burger King Corporation today announced the endorsement of guidelines for the humane treatment of food animals. The endorsed guidelines include the American Meat Institute (AMI) Good Management Practices for Animal Handling and Stunning for cattle and swine; the United Egg Producers (UEP) Animal Husbandry Guidelines for U.S. Egg Laying Flocks, and the National Chicken Council (NCC) Animal Welfare Guidelines for broiler chickens.

Each of these sets of guidelines was reviewed by scientific and industry experts prior to adoption by their respective industries.

"Endorsing these guidelines forms the foundation for our Animal Well-Being program as we move forward," said Tulin Tuzel, senior vice president, research and development and Chief Technology Officer of Burger King Corporation. "The next step, working in concert with our Advisory Council, will be to identify specific provisions within these guidelines which should be enhanced or qualified and to adopt procedures for implementation and verification."

Burger King Corporation formed the Animal Well-Being Advisory Council last fall, comprised of such nationally-recognized experts in the field as Dr. Temple Grandin, Ph.D. from Colorado State University; Professor Janice Swanson, Kansas State University, and Professor David Fraser, Ph.D. from The University of British Columbia.

Burger King Corporation has required its suppliers to comply with the Federal Humane Slaughter Act since the inception of the act.

Burger King Corporation created the American icon, the HOME OF THEWHOPPER(R), in 1957. The company and its franchisees operate more than 11,330 restaurants in all 50 states, and 58 countries and international territories around the world, with more than 92% of BURGER KING(R) restaurants owned and operated by independent franchisees. Since the company's founding in Miami in 1954, the BURGER KING(R) brand has become recognized for great flame-broiled taste and HAVE IT YOUR WAY(R) food customization. In fiscal year 2000, the BURGER KING(R) system had system-wide sales of $11.4 billion. Burger King Corporation is a part of Diageo (NYSE: DEO), the international food and drinks company.