‘Frankenchickens suffering on county farms’

An animal welfare charity says it has uncovered evidence of “Frankenchickens” in poor health at a local farm working for Hereford-based Avara Foods, which in turn supplies chicken to supermarkets and restaurants.

The Humane League said it was able to walk into the farm at night, where it recorded birds with so-called hock burns from faeces, acute lameness and deformities linked to “overbreeding”.

The UK chicken industry has expanded in recent years to meet growing customer demand, while consumption of other meats remains flat.

And while retailers and others have committed to improving the space available to birds, which are no longer caged, the use of a fast-growing breed, the Ross 308, dominates production.

The Better Chicken Commitment (BCC) requires chicken producers to adopt instead “breeds that demonstrate higher welfare outcomes” by the end of this year. But its takeup in the retail and hospitality industries has been limited.

“Changing the breed of these birds is essential to improving their lives,” The Humane League UK managing director Alex Mayers said.

“In our footage, you see birds who can’t stand up, corpses rotting in corners, and the bleary, suffering eyes of thousands of feeling beings.

“More space is only good when your legs work. There’s no humane way to farm a Frankenchicken.”

A spokesperson for Avara Foods said THL’s clips “mostly show healthy chickens”, adding: “The only welfare concern here has been caused by activists illegally breaking-in to farms at night, and potentially spreading disease.”

They added that “legal, regulated and audited” British businesses work hard to meet consumer demand “with fresh, high-quality chicken at standards that are above those required for imported produce”.

On this point, a Tesco spokesperson said: “All our fresh chicken is British, and we work closely with UK farmers to ensure it meets higher welfare requirements.

“This includes exceeding government standards by providing chickens with 20 per cent more space than the industry norm.”

Britain’s biggest retailer already offers slower grown Finest, Organic and RSPCA Assured ranges that “meet or exceed every aim” of the BCC, they added.

Chicken-focused restaurant chain Nando’s, which Avara also supplies, recently pulled out of the BCC and is now part of the industry’s own Sustainable Chicken Forum, set up to “take a holistic view of chicken welfare, the environmental impact of chicken farming and the security of chicken supply and find solutions”, its spokesperson said.