Java junkies who head to McDonald's Corp.'s UK outlets will be buying environmentally friendly coffee starting on Wednesday, the conservation group Rainforest Alliance said on Monday. All 1,200 outlets of McDonald's UK, a subsidiary of McDonald's Corp. in the United Kingdom and Ireland, will sell only Kraft Foods Inc. Kenco coffee -- arabica beans that are 100 percent certified by Rainforest Alliance. McDonald's UK is the first major retailer in the United Kingdom to do this, and will brew more than 143,000 cups of coffee daily using 1.8 million pounds of certified beans in 2007, Rainforest Alliance said in a release.

Rainforest Alliance is a New York-based international nonprofit organization that certifies coffee farms that meet specific production standards including those which protect the environment, rights and welfare of its workers, and the interest of its communities. McDonald's signaled its intention to extend its commitment to serve certified coffee in restaurants throughout Europe this year, Rainforest Alliance said.

Prices will range from 1.09 pounds (US$1.43) for a regular coffee to 1.50 pounds for a large cappuccino. In the United States, McDonald's USA has sold Green Mountain Coffee in partnership with Newman's Own Organics, a "fair trade" certified producer, in about 600 restaurants in the country's Northeast region, since early 2006, spokesman Bill Whitman said.

McDonald's USA does not have a specific policy on the coffee it sells, Whitman said. Fair trade promotes equal standards for labor. Rainforest Alliance certification is different from fair trade as its standards aim to conserve biodiversity, and keep livelihoods sustainable through land-use practices and business practices.
(Planet Ark, 09/01/2007)