FOOD FIRMS NEED MORE TIME TO MEET COMMITMENTS ON SLOW BREEDING CHICKENS
FOOD FIRMS NEED MORE TIME TO MEET COMMITMENTS ON SLOW BREEDING CHICKENS
By Dr. Nathan Rhys Williams
Chicken giant KFC was the first fast-food company in the UK to commit to the European Better Chicken Commitment, and it has since been praised for publishing annual reports on how it is progressing with its pledges. Last week however, the company was criticized when it announced that it would not be able to meet the part of the commitment that requires use of slower-growing breeds of chicken by 2026.
So what is going on?
At Chronos we engage with many leading food firms – through our work with the likes of the Global Coalition for Animal Welfare (GCAW) and the Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare – and this includes many of the 600 food firms that have signed up to the Better Chicken Commitment and European Chicken Commitment, including Nestlé, Marks & Spencer and Sodexo.
And what’s clear is that the switch to more slower-growing breeds in the UK is not only KFC’s problem.
The slow growth of slower-growing chickens in UK
The reason for the calls to switch to slower-growing breeds (such as Rambler Ranger, Ranger Classic, and Ranger Gold) is to move chicken producers away from so called ‘Frankenchickens’ i.e. breeds that have been selected for high feed efficiency, enabling them to reach their weight for slaughter in around six weeks, but which also tend to come with welfare concerns including leg disorders, heart and other health problems as a result of rapid weight gain.
However, the UK market has moved much slower than both animal welfare activists and food companies would like towards this goal.
Slower-growing breeds are still a relatively small proportion of the market – with one estimate last year suggesting they were still only 5% of the UK market. Significantly behind the Netherlands, where they are over 40%. And it seems that issues around higher costs and greater impact on emissions and land use are hindering adoption.
Further to this, breed companies have done much work in recent years to address lameness and mortality rates and improve welfare outcomes for the fast-growing breeds. Whilst this work is still far from satisfying NGO concerns, it offers different welfare options for companies trying to navigate the issue.
So it’s unlikely that KFC will be the only food company in the UK unable to meet the commitment to adopt these breeds by 2026.
It is a sector wide issue that requires industry collaboration, through bodies like GCAW, and a robust approach to target-setting.
Helping companies with better chicken welfare
As well as sector-wide collaboration to increase alternative breeds in the wider poultry sector it’s important for food businesses to set credible targets that are based not only on ambition but on the ‘art of the possible’.
One of the services Chronos provides is to help food companies to do just that.
We can help companies conduct appropriate due diligence prior to setting animal welfare targets that balance out a company’s strategic aims, that engage with all stakeholders including NGOs, and which set ambitious but also realistic timeframes based on what needs to change internally, across a supply chain and in the wider market.
This includes publishing a road map and timeline for implementation and setting clear metrics to monitor positive impacts.
In the case of adopting slower-growing chickens in the UK it’s important that the market does not throw the baby out with the bathwater. 2026 may prove too ambitious for some supply chains, but that should not stop the industry calculating what a realistic date is to achieve this critical switch.
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If you would like to know more about the advice and consultancy Chronos provides on animal welfare issues please contact: nathan@chronossustainability.com