The A to Z of McDonald's.

People sometimes ask us where the beef in our burgers comes from, and many are pleased to hear that we get all of our beef from British and Irish farms, like the one run by farmer Richard Hoskin.

Richard has supplied beef from his farm in the Dorset countryside to McDonald's since 2005. Richard's farm meets strict, nationally recognised farm assurance scheme standards. These include standards on animal health and welfare, which we expect our suppliers to meet.

We only use whole cuts of 100% British and Irish beef, seasoned with just a pinch of salt and pepper after cooking. Nothing more, nothing less.

We care about the planet and are committed to finding ways to recycle packaging and use recycled materials across the whole of our business.

As well as 80% of our packaging being made from renewable resources, we recycle the cardboard boxes used in 90% of our restaurants. By finding more environmentally friendly ways to collect and dispose of our cardboard, we prevent thousands of tonnes of rubbish from going to landfill each year.

We're passionate about animal welfare and that's why we only use free-range eggs across our whole menu - even in our sauces and the coating on our Chicken McNuggets.

In 2010, we used more than 95 million eggs for our breakfast menu. One of our suppliers that helped provide these is the Lakes Free-Range Eggs Company in Cumbria, owned by David and Helen Brass. The Brass family has been supplying McDonald's since 2002. Like us, David and Helen recognise that contented hens lay quality eggs and have improved the environment for their hens.

We were one of the first companies to make the switch to free-range eggs over 10 years ago and this has led to us being awarded the Good Egg Award from Compassion in World Farming and three RSPCA Good Business Awards.

We're committed to helping our people fulfil their potential whether they are looking to build a career with us, or use the experience as a springboard to something else. We want to help them be the best they can be. This helps us attract and keep the best people, plus it makes sure we're delivering great service to our customers.

That's why we invest an average of 16,800 hours training our UK employees every day and offer our staff a wide range of training and qualifications, including apprenticeships in Hospitality and Catering.

It might surprise you to know that on average around 2,000 people apply for a job at McDonald's each day. In total we now employ over 85,000 people and each and every one has the opportunity to climb the career ladder. In fact, 9 out of 10 of our restaurant managers started out behind the counter or in the kitchen.

We believe it's important to offer our employees a range of training opportunities, including the chance to gain a nationally recognised qualification while they work – such as apprenticeships in Hospitality and Catering, maths and English qualifications, or the Foundation Degree we offer our restaurant managers.

No one likes to see litter, but unfortunately it's out there. We take great pride in our local environment and that's why we've been working hard to try and reduce the amount of litter on our streets.

For over 20 years our employees have been going out, rain or shine, to collect litter from around our restaurants.

Our sausage? British. Our bacon? British. In fact, all our pork is without exception, well... British.

We're confident that our jobs give people the opportunity and flexibility they need from an employer. We offer flexible hours, nationally recognised qualifications, fantastic career prospects and a whole host of other rewards and benefits that fit around our employees and their lifestyles.

But don't just take our word for it, we're very proud to have been recognised as one of the "Top 25 Best Big Companies to work for", featuring in the 'Sunday Times Best Companies' list, and we'd like to thank all our people for helping to make McDonald's an award winning place to work.

Ronald McDonald House Charities has been McDonald's charity of choice for over 20 years. It's an independent charity that looks after families with children in hospitals across the UK, by providing free 'home away from home' accommodation just a stone's throw from the children's ward. Every year, McDonald's customers raise millions of pounds for Ronald McDonald House Charities just by donating their change in the charity boxes by the tills in McDonald's restaurants.

The charity helps families like Vikki Chester-Walsh and her daughter Mollie. At three years old Mollie was diagnosed with a severe brain condition and was referred to a hospital many hours away from her home for specialist treatment. When Mollie had her operation, Vikki and the rest of her family stayed in the nearby Ronald McDonald House. Staying at the House meant they could focus all their efforts on providing comfort and care to Mollie when she needed it most, rather than worrying about where the family are going to sleep, shower and eat.

In the last 20 years, 14 Ronald McDonald Houses have been built in the UK, along with over 25 sets of Ronald McDonald Family Rooms – in total that's 400 rooms for families every night of the year. But there are still a lot of families that need the help of Ronald McDonald House Charities. To find out more about where the money donated every day goes, visit the Ronald McDonald House Charities website.

Our tea and coffee is made using leaves and beans from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms, ensuring a better deal for farmers, workers and their families.

Plus, all the coffee in our Full BEAN™ range – whether an espresso, latte or cappuccino – is brewed using freshly ground Arabica coffee beans, and we use semi-skimmed, organic British milk in all our milky hot drinks.

London 2012 is going to be an exciting time for the UK and we're proud to be involved.

But it's important to remember that the Olympic and Paralympic Games could never happen without all the brilliant people working tirelessly behind the scenes. And there are a lot of them, nearly 70,000, and we're privileged to be able to help train them.

We know a fair bit about training, education and people development as well as what it takes to work in a fast-paced, busy environment. That's why we're the Presenting Partner of the London 2012 Games Maker Programme.

Not many people realise that the majority of our ingredients come from British and Irish farmers, and we're pleased to report that nearly all of the oats for our porridge are grown on British farms.

We believe it's important for everyone to help protect and preserve the environment for future generations, and our ambition is simple: to reduce the impact we have on the environment across the whole of our business. Part of this means working towards sending no waste to landfill whatsoever and continuing to find ways to reduce, reuse and recycle.

In fact, we were the first restaurant chain to start sending some of our restaurant waste to special plants that turn it into renewable energy in the form of electricity into the National Grid. Over 226 of our restaurants are involved, preventing thousands of tonnes of rubbish a year going to landfill. So we're on our way...