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Animal Welfare organisations like the RSPCA have been quick to condemn this move. The forum claims it wants to take a more holistic approach to chicken production, balancing the demands of welfare, environmental impact and food security. But NGOs say that the forum makes no real commitment to improving animals’ lives and this decision is based on a simple calculation - profit ahead of welfare. Customers now have a choice between companies that accept animal suffering as a price worth paying to drive up their profits or brands who guarantee higher welfare choices such as products labelled RSPCA Assured which doesn’t allow these fast-growing breeds.  

As red meat, with its poor environmental record, has fallen out of favour, chicken has become the nation’s protein of choice. We rear these birds in huge numbers to meet our growing demand for their meat. But, of the 1 billion chickens slaughtered for food in the UK every year, around 90% are breeds which grow so fast they struggle under their own weight, sometimes being forced to sit in their own faeces, putting them and us at risk of disease. They are so heavy they struggle to do the things that give their life meaning and joy, like perch and dustbathe. Many find it difficult to walk and are prone to terrible health issues like heart defects, lameness and risk of early death. A 2020 RSPCA-commissioned report - Eat, Sit, Suffer, Repeat  - compared the welfare of these fast-growing breeds with the slower growing breeds pioneered by RSPCA Assured. The report concluded that the majority of these fast-growing birds ‘do not have a life worth living’.

These companies combined have just declined the opportunity to transform the lives of hundreds of millions of animals. 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. Withdrawing from this critical commitment condemns millions upon millions of birds to short, miserable lives of suffering. 

It doesn’t just matter to animals, it matters to people too. They care about farmed ÅÝܽÊÓƵ. A 2023 Savanta poll by the RSPCA found almost 9 in 10 (87%) UK adults agree that they would expect supermarkets to ensure that all chicken meat they sell is farmed to higher welfare standards. More than 3 in 4 (77%) UK adults agree that they are ‘appalled’ that chickens farmed for their meat are suffering because of fast growth rates. 

Breed is key. The Sustainable Chicken Forum claims its members will improve welfare, but extra space, more enrichment and increased natural light mean little if a bird is too unhealthy to benefit from it.  

Sustainability in our food system is vital. But leading scientists, governments and NGOs agree that there is no sustainability without ÅÝܽÊÓƵ. Better farmed ÅÝܽÊÓƵ means healthier animals leading to reduced mortality and waste, it is better for human health, reducing the risk of zoonotic diseases and pandemics. Moreover, it is a moral imperative - as a nation of animal lovers, we want better for the animals we rear for food. Sustainability isn’t just about carbon, it’s about ethical, responsible production which puts ÅÝܽÊÓƵ at its heart. If we want to create a truly sustainable system which balances ÅÝܽÊÓƵ and climate and environmental impacts, we may have to face up to the fact that we all need to eat less meat, eggs and dairy. 

As the global demand for meat is expected to grow by 70% by 2050, time is running out to create a compassionate, sustainable and secure 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 a solution which protects people, animals and the planet.