The RSPCA has urged 18 major fast food companies to rethink after they dropped a pledge to replace fast-growing ‘Frankenchickens’ with healthier, slower-growing breeds.
In the letter to retailers including KFC, Nando’s and Burger King, the charity said animal welfare is ‘not an optional extra’ after the companies pulled out of the Better Chicken Commitment and set up the industry-led Sustainable Chicken Forum.
RSPCA said the vast majority of the over one billion meat chickens reared for food in the UK grow so fast they can struggle to walk, with many also suffering from other health problems linked to heart and circulation, which all contribute to higher levels of mortality. In addition to the serious welfare issues, this is wasteful, unethical, unnecessary and worse for the environment.
RSPCA director of advocacy and prevention Thomas Schultz-Jagow said: “This is a shameful blow to animal welfare which condemns hundreds of millions of chickens to lives of unnecessary misery and suffering. These companies have put profits over welfare and now consumers must choose between brands which think animal suffering is a price worth paying for their bottom line and those who put welfare first, offering products such as RSPCA Assured.
“These companies say they are focusing on sustainability but sustainability includes animal welfare. Sustainability is about ethical, responsible production which encompasses animal welfare. Breed is key – more space, more natural light and better enrichment means little if a chicken is too unhealthy to benefit from it.
“We are urging these organisations to recommit to the Better Chicken Commitment to meaningfully improve the lives of hundreds of millions of birds every year.”
A 2020 RSPCA-commissioned report, Eat, Sit, Suffer, Repeat, compared the welfare of the most used fast-growing breeds with a commercially viable slower growing breed. The report concluded that these fast-growing breeds are born with inherent welfare issues and ‘do not have a life worth living’.
Fast-food giant KFC alone, which aims to source 82,700 tons of chicken meat from British farms by the end of this year, could improve the welfare of an estimated 40 million birds if they made the switch to slower-growing breeds.
Consumers care about these issues – a 2023 Savanta poll by the RSPCA found more than 3 in 4 (77%) UK adults agreed that they are ‘appalled’ that chickens farmed for their meat are suffering because of fast growth rates.
Mr Schultz-Jagow continued: “As the global demand for meat is expected to grow by 70% by 2050, time is running out to create a compassionate and sustainable food system. Industry cannot duck its responsibilities and it cannot mark its own homework.
“We all have to work together – industry, government, and the third sector– to find solutions that protect people, animals and the planet.”
To sign the open letter and urge these food companies to keep their animal welfare promises, click here.
