Food
We Serve Food People Trust
We have an unwavering commitment to serve food that people trust. That means going above and beyond when it comes to food safety, listening and responding to customers’ evolving preferences and improving the nutritional value of our menu items.
In 2019, Taco Bell pledged to reduce antibiotics important to human health in its U.S. and Canada beef supply chain by
25% by 2025
In 2019
42%
of Yum! food offerings met our global nutrition criteria for meal options.
By 2030
50%
of menu food offerings will be consistent with Yum! global nutrition criteria for meal options.
Plant-Based
Testing innovative products around the world
Recipe Notes: Building Upon Our Safety Strengths
Q&A
with Mary Weaver,
Chief Food Safety and Quality Assurance Officer
Q: How has Yum!’s approach to food safety evolved over the past year?
A: We’ve made significant investments in technology, including a food safety and quality management system that provides real-time, global transparency on the status of all of our food and packaging suppliers.
These improvements allow us to quickly visualize performance, measure risk, as well as respond quickly to supply chain disruptions, which was critical during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We also transitioned from a compliance to a risk-based approach when assessing our suppliers. That is, rather than scoring suppliers with a “pass” or “fail,” we assign them a tiered ranking. We then provide a path to achieve the level of performance necessary to be a Yum! supplier.
Q: What are the benefits of this risk-based approach?
A: From Yum!’s standpoint, prioritizing continuous improvement has made us more efficient because it requires us to develop existing suppliers rather than continually searching for new ones.
It also brings lasting benefits to our suppliers, particularly for small businesses and those in countries that don’t yet have established supply chains. Meeting Yum!’s global standards often qualifies them to serve as a vendor to other large businesses, which, in turn, helps grow economies throughout the world.
Q: How did Yum! maintain high levels of safety in restaurants during the COVID-19 outbreak?
A: A foundation of strong food safety processes and procedures, many of which go beyond global regulations, helped us respond quickly and effectively. For example, restaurant employees globally have been using hand sanitizer after hand washing for years.
Our relationships for sourcing hand sanitizer — and internal culture regarding its use — made it fairly seamless for us to expand sanitation procedures and increase requirements for personal protective equipment.
At the same time, I’ve seen a level of cross-functional engagement and collaboration unlike ever before. New processes that once took months to implement were adopted in hours or days. I attribute this to Yum!’s culture of believing in all people, which I’ve seen from our executive team to franchisees and RGMs. Keeping our shared focus on what’s important — the safety of our team members and guests — has guided us to make the right decisions throughout this crisis.
Balanced Choices
We continue to be transparent and improve the nutritional value of our food. In line with Yum!’s global nutrition standards, we’re committed to providing consumers with more access to balanced food choices that meet their lifestyles and dietary preferences and are less processed or modified. Our recent efforts have focused on collecting data to help inform our work when it comes to offering more balanced choices and where we can make improvements.
Raised Responsibly
We believe we have a responsibility to be good steward of the animals raised for food throughout our supply chain. Our commitment to animal health and well-being is steadfast and guided by our holistic, science-based Sustainable Animal Protein Principles. On antibiotics, we continue our commitments to reduce antibiotics important to human medicine in our food production. In terms of animal welfare, KFC introduced new global chicken welfare KPIs as a key next step on its animal welfare journey. Additionally, we support the Five Freedoms for all animals used for food in our supply chain.
Plant-based & vegetarian
A trend we’ve been tracking for several years now is the accelerating shift toward plant-forward eating. Whether out of concerns for the environment, health or animal welfare, this lifestyle is now so mainstream that it can no longer be called a trend. From diners who choose exclusively vegan and vegetarian options, to flexitarians who enjoy a meat-free meal every now and then, KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and The Habit Burger Grill are responding to today’s preferences with menu items for everyone.