A New Milestone: Over 500 Corporate Commitments for Chickens Raised for Meat

With consumers demanding cruelty-free animal farming, more and more restaurants, supermarkets, retailers, and food companies are waking up to the global movement to end the abuse of animals raised for food.

Now, in countries spanning the United States, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, France, the United Kingdom, Poland, Switzerland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Canada, and more, hundreds of forward-thinking corporations have committed to eliminating some of the cruelest practices from their supply chains, transforming how chickens are bred, raised, and slaughtered.

Thanks to the relentless advocacy of activists across North America and Europe, and thanks to the leadership of groups like the Open Wing Alliance (OWA), a global coalition of animal protection organizations, 512 companies and counting have published corporate welfare policies to improve the treatment of chickens raised for meat. Three of these policies are global—rather than local or regional—in scope, meaning they apply to the companies’ operations across the entire world. And a handful of companies have either completely fulfilled—or are actively sharing reports on—their progress.

In short, the world is changing for chickens—for the better. Step by step, year over year, our collective activism is moving the needle for the 70 billion chickens raised for meat around the globe.

What happens to chickens on factory farms?

Chickens raised for meat—also known as “broilers” within the poultry industry—are one of the most widely farmed animals in the world, their numbers surpassing even the millions of cows and pigs killed for food each year. 9 billion chickens go to slaughter to feed people in the US alone. Globally, that number is even higher, at 70 billion per year. And, as one of the least protected farmed animals in the world, chickens face immense suffering on factory farms. From hatching to slaughter, these birds endure pain, confusion, and terror on the ground floor of our broken food system.

Broiler chickens usually belong to just a handful of breeds specifically bred for fast growth—the faster the better, from the perspective of the meat industry. The vast majority of chickens eaten in the US—a whopping 90%—come from just two breeds: the Cobb 500 and the Ross 308. The Cobb and the Ross have been selectively bred over decades and decades to grow extremely big, extremely fast. Today, chickens weigh far more than they did 100 years ago, with most chickens going to their deaths when they reach a “market weight” of 6.41 pounds at 47 days old. 100 years ago, chickens reached market weight at 2.5 pounds in 112 days. This means that, over the course of the past century, chickens have more than doubled in size—and they now get that big in less than half the time.

It’s a problem for chickens to get so big, so fast, because their bodies can’t keep up with the growth. Researchers have linked fast growth to numerous illnesses, including spaghetti meat, woody breast, and white striping disease—which appears in the muscles of chickens and is widespread at supermarkets around the country. On top of serious diseases like these, chickens raised for meat frequently suffer from high blood pressure, swollen abdomens, and cardiac arrest due to their weakened lungs, hearts, and immune systems.

Exacerbating their health conditions, the housing these chickens receive is grim. Crowded into densely packed warehouses—or “grow-out barns”—with as many as tens of thousands of other birds, the chickens can’t perch, roost, or feel the sun on their feathers. These barns lack natural light, leaving the space dim and the air dank. Feces accumulates on the sodden floors, and the toxic ammonia generated by the waste leaves raw burns and lesions all over the chickens’ bodies.

Chickens raised for meat live out their short lives in these miserable environments. The typical lifespan of a backyard chicken can be anywhere from five to twelve years. On factory farms, however, the average “slaughter age” hovers around just six or seven weeks. When they do reach that age, having spent the bulk of their days gaining weight in a dim, dirty sea of other birds, meat chickens most commonly die by a method called “live-shackle slaughter”—a gruesome practice that subjects chickens to electrocution, throat slashing, and boiling, sometimes alive. Despite its cruelty, live-shackle slaughter is the most common method of killing chickens raised for food.

How do welfare policies help chickens?

With roughly 70 billion chickens raised and slaughtered for their meat each year around the world, corporate welfare policies play an important role in reducing the amount of suffering that takes place on factory farms.

Based on the latest science, the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC) is the leading set of animal welfare standards improving the lives of chickens raised for meat. It lays out a set of carefully selected welfare criteria with five modest measures (six in Europe) that, individually and altogether, aim to improve the lives of chickens. The BCC asks companies to transition to slower-growing breeds, increase the space allotted to each bird (also known as “stocking density”), give the animals enriched environments (including lighting and fresh litter), and shift away from the industry standard of live-shackle slaughter.

Which companies have chicken welfare policies?

With over 500 leading brands adopting animal welfare policies specifically designed to protect chickens from the worst abuses they face within animal agriculture, the momentum to transform our food system is gaining traction.

Since efforts to secure corporate commitments began in 2016, the tireless advocacy of compassionate people around the world has paid off, year after year:

2016

10 broiler commitments worldwide

2017

87 broiler commitments worldwide (77 new policies)

2018

132 broiler commitments worldwide (45 new policies)

2019

259 broiler commitments worldwide (127 new policies)

2020

400 broiler commitments worldwide (141 new policies)

2021

498 broiler commitments worldwide (98 new policies)

2022

512 broiler commitments worldwide (14 new policies)

These companies have broiler commitments in place

In the US

• Subway
• Burger King
• Whole Foods
• Au Bon Pain
• Chipotle
• Starbucks
• Shake Shack
• Aramark
• Compass Group
• Popeyes
• Denny’s
• IKEA
• Sweetgreen
• Bruegger’s Bagels
• Papa John’s Pizza
• Nestlé
• Kraft-Heinz
• Campbell’s
• Jamba Juice
• General Mills
• Peet’s Coffee & Tea
• Dunkin'
• Boston Market

In Europe

• Marks & Spencer
• Pizza Hut
• Aldi
• Chipotle
• Aramark
• Nomad Foods (Birds Eye, Findus, Iglo, Aunt Bessie’s, Goodfella’s, La Cocinera, Lutosa)
• Salad & Co
• Louvre Hotels (Campanile, Kyriad, Première Classe, Golden Tulip, Tulip Inn, Metoprolol, Hotels & Preferences, Sarovar)
• Casual Dining Group (Bella Italia, Belgo, Las Iguanas, Cafe Rouge, La Tasca, Huxley’s Oriel Grande Brasserie)
• Le Pain Quotidien
• KFC
• Danone
• Unilever

What you can do

In just the first months of 2022, 14 companies announced new welfare policies for chickens. With steady, significant growth in the number of commitments year over year, since 2016, it’s clear that corporations are seeing the writing on the wall. Together, we can build on this incredible momentum and keep pushing for vital change to relieve the suffering of chickens raised for meat.