Broiler chicken keepers claim barriers to improved welfare standards.

A new survey from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) has revealed key reasons why broiler chickens are not kept to higher welfare standards.

Perceived limitations to the welfare standards highlighted in the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC) included economic costs, environmental impacts and issues with consumer purchasing.

The survey saw researchers interview 30 representatives which had knowledge and engagement with the BCC welfare standards. The discussions particularly focused on the problems linked with switching to slower growing broiler chickens.

In general, participants appeared to agree with the scientific evidence. They acknowledged that slower growing strains had better welfare than fast-growing chickens kept under the same conditions.

However, participants offered differing opinions how slower growing chickens impacted sustainability.

Some of the respondents identified increased economic costs and environmental impacts as barriers to the change. They also raised concern that consumers would not pay increased costs needed to facilitate the change.

The issues were emphasised by retail representatives, which were particularly motivated to minimise their carbon footprint to meet environmental targets. They were also concerned about providing 'cheaper' chickens for demand, which they said prevented consumers from switching to poorer welfare imports.

Overall, these respondents considered slow-growth broiler chickens to be economically and environmentally unviable. They suggested improving welfare among fast-growing chickens, or a compromise of intermediate-growth chickens.

However, representatives from welfare charities, scientists and assurance schemes approached sustainability issues from a holistic approach.

These respondents said that animal welfare was closely related to sustainable production, warning that it should not be compromised to meet environmental targets. They also felt that consumers' purchases were not reflecting their preferences, due to confusion about production practices.

Instead they called for change within the food system, which would include additional methods to reduce the economic and environmental costs, clearer labelling and a 'less but better' approach to chicken consumption.

Siobhan Abeyesinghe, associate professor in animal behaviour and welfare science at RVC, said: “These results show that we urgently need a better understanding of UK consumer expectations about broiler welfare and welfare labelling, and how they prioritise welfare in relation to environmental costs and price.

“This is a major missing piece of the puzzle that stakeholders currently face for realistically evaluating both the importance and feasibility of different improvements to the welfare of over a billion chickens each year.”

The full study can be found here.

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