KFC backs off promise to stop using Frankenchicken in the UK | fast food

Fast food chain KFC has broken its pledge to improve animal welfare in the UK by sourcing slow-growing chicken breeds by 2026.

Fast-growing broiler chickens have been called Frankenchickens because of their welfare problems, including high mortality, lameness and muscle disease. In the UK, more than a billion chickens are slaughtered for meat every year.

KFC received rave reviews when it announced it would sign up to the Better Chicken Commitment in 2019, but has now said it will not honor the pledge. According to the 2024 Annual Progress Report on Chicken Welfare, only 1% of chickens are from slow-growing breeds.

The company's ambition was to achieve six key objectives by 2026, including the adoption of slow-growing varieties and stocking densities of up to 30 kg per square meter or less, providing the birds with significantly more space.

KFC restaurants in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden have signed up to this commitment, but little progress has been made in adopting slow-growing varieties.

Ruth Edge, head of sustainability at KFC UK and Ireland, told an egg and poultry industry conference in Wales last week that the ambition to use slower-growing varieties by 2026 was unattainable.

We never said we would never go, she said. But we talked about 2026 and we said we won't be able to do that because of the way the market has developed or the lack of it.

KFC says there is insufficient supply to meet its commitments because farmers are not converting in large enough numbers to slower-growing varieties. The company said it is still working to source its chickens from farms with low housing densities.

Campaigners say switching to slower-growing varieties will reduce mortality and improve welfare, but many retailers and restaurants have been reluctant to sign up to the Better Chicken Commitment because of the higher costs.

Food companies and retailers who have signed up to the pledge include Marks & Spencer, Burger King, Subway, Nandos, Nestl and Greggs. One of the commitments is third-party audits to ensure compliance with the standards by 2026, with a longer period for companies registering this year.

Animal welfare group Humane League UK said it would protest against KFC's backtracking. The charity's Katie Ferneyhough said: The use of Frankenchickens is the biggest animal welfare crisis of our time and we will not allow companies to break their commitments to animals. We will not rest until KFC comes to the table and presents a new timeline for adoption. [Better Chicken Commitment].

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Connor Jackson, co-founder of charity Open Cages, said: “We are in contact with companies that can supply KFC with the slow-growing chickens it needs to deliver on its commitments. The fact that KFC has made less than 1% progress in eliminating Frankenchicken from its supply chain is very concerning.

An RSPCA spokesperson said: “Fast-growing breeds of chicken can have serious health and welfare problems. We urge KFC to switch to using only slow-growing breeds as soon as possible.”

Rudi Van Schoor, Chief Supply Chain Officer, KFC Europe, said: “The Better Chicken Commitment is an absolutely essential framework for tracking and improving the welfare standards we follow. When I joined in 2019, I did so to support the direction of travel. We were very confident that we could only meet all the requirements of the commitment if the wider poultry sector was moved, as we account for less than 3% of the overall UK chicken market.

The current reality is that the UK poultry industry is not yet in an operational and commercial position to deliver on the Better Chicken Commitment by 2026. However, we remain committed to the Better Chicken Commitment framework.

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