Eight businesses owning 18 hospitality brands have broken 'en mass' their promise to implement major improvements to chicken welfare, in a "victory for factory farming".

The brands include popular outlets like Nando's, KFC, Wagamama and Burger King, all of which are withdrawing from the Better Chicken Commitment, a policy designed by scientists to relieve the worst forms of suffering experienced by chickens raised for meat.

A crucial component of the policy is changing the breed of chicken from overbred, rapid-growing birds dubbed ‘Frankenchickens’ by campaigners, to more robust slower-growing birds, shown to dramatically improve the animals’ wellbeing.

Pain

These companies are instead setting up a new initiative called the Sustainable Chicken Forum (SCF), which does not require a change of breed and will rather focus on “balancing welfare improvements with environmental impact and consistent supply”.

Claire Williams, campaigns manager at The Humane League UK, said:“Let’s be crystal clear about why the Sustainable Chicken Forum has been set up. 

"Major food companies, with a combined worth of many billions of pounds, have decided that their profit margins cannot be threatened. 

"The Better Chicken Commitment was designed by scientists to help animals - the Sustainable Chicken Forum is a welfare-washing, PR-stunt designed to deflect criticism, and let these companies claim they are doing enough."

She added: "The result will be the continued use and abuse of hundreds of millions of birds who grow so big, so fast that often their legs are wracked with lameness, their organs collapse in pain and their bodies are burned black with excrement. 

Welfare

"These companies are suckling animal cruelty in this country. They ought to be ashamed.”

The Better Chicken Commitment was launched by ten animal welfare organisations in 2017 with KFC signing up in 2019, Nando’s in 2020 and Burger King in 2021. The companies committed to a 2026 deadline. The companies did nothing to change the breed of their birds in intervening years, according to The Humane League UK.

Chickens are the most farmed land animal in the UK, with 1.1 billion raised and killed for meat every year. The Humane League UK argues that this is an unrivalled crisis in animal cruelty.

In the British Government’s animal welfare strategy they committed to supporting “voluntary efforts to move away from the use of fast-growing meat chicken breeds.”

Disappeared

Connor Jackson, chief executive of Anima International, said: “Any other explanation is BS. Frankenchickens pose the most serious animal welfare problem in the UK.

“These commitments created hope to resolve these issues, and abandoning these commitments is letting down not only millions of animals but a nation of animal lovers.

“Their commitments might have disappeared from these companies’ websites, but the animal welfare crisis in their supply chain has not gone anywhere.”

Tragic

Frankenchickens account for over nine in 10 chickens raised for their meat in the UK. They are bred to grow extremely large, extremely quickly, growing from chick to slaughter weight in just 35 days on average. 

This unnatural growth rate maximises profit, but has severe welfare consequences including muscle diseases, bone deformities and burns from lying in their own waste.

Williams added: “Businesses should never be allowed to self-regulate, particularly in matters as vital as the treatment of sentient beings. It's foxes guarding the chicken coop. 

"This cartel of cruelty have completely shirked their duty to animals, and are patting themselves on the back about it. This is a massive backslide for animal welfare, and a tragic victory for factory farming.”

Allen Simpson, the chief executive, UKHospitality, said: "Consumer demand for chicken continues to soar. This demand comes at a time of acute chicken supply pressures and operators rightly have to ensure consistent and secure supply chains, while continuing to improve welfare standards and cut their environmental impact."

Cruel

Lindsay Duncan, the UK farming manager at World Animal Protection, added: “We fear this new Sustainable Chicken Forum will make little improvements for the millions of chickens cruelly confined on industrial farms.

"The science-backed Better Chicken Commitment addressed the fundamental issues in chicken welfare by moving away from fast-growing breeds. 

"Over 95 per cent of UK chickens are bred to grow so quickly, on industrial farms, they can barely support their own bodyweight. This causes immense suffering. If the industry does not move away from using these breeds, this cruelty will only continue.

"The backtracking of huge industry players shows a lack of responsibility and commitment to addressing the deeply cruel and harmful practices within their supply chain. 

"It clearly shows that the industry won’t move forward without proper regulation. The UK Government must act now by banning fast growing chicken breeds and stopping the expansion of industrial chicken units across the UK.”

The Ecologist has contacted Nando's, KFC, Wagamama and Burger King for comment. 

This Author

Brendan Montague is an editor of The Ecologist.