More than 300 rally to stop UK schools and hospitals from buying fast-growing chickens

To pressure the U.K. government into ending the rearing of so-called "Frankenchickens," an animal welfare group organized an eye-catching protest. 

Here's what to know

According to Vegan Food & Living, more than 300 people gathered alongside a giant chicken outside parliament in November. 

Demonstrators urged lawmakers to stop public institutions from buying fast-growing breeds intended for consumption because of serious animal welfare concerns.

The protest focused on taxpayer-funded meals in schools, hospitals, and prisons, highlighting birds bred to gain weight so rapidly that their bodies struggle to keep up.

UK Voters for Animals held the mass lobby to push for changes to government purchasing and poultry welfare rules. They called on representatives to push the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to act.

Fast-growing breeds account for more than 90% of the roughly 1.1 billion chickens Britain raises and slaughters for meat each year, according to Vegan Food & Living. That annual total amounts to about 91 million birds per month.

Selective breeding for rapid weight gain puts these birds at risk of cardiac failure, unexpectedly early death, and debilitating muscle disease. Campaigners want the government to stop spending money on these intensive breeds by aligning public purchasing standards with the Better Chicken Commitment.

More background

Campaigners asked MPs to set out three demands in letters to environment secretary Dame Angela Eagle and parliamentary under-secretary Stephen Morgan, according to Vegan Food & Living. They sought an end to public purchases of fast-growing chickens, a specific plan to phase out the breeds, and mandatory production-method labeling.

Vegan Food & Living cited 2023 RSPCA data that showed that 87% of U.K. adults want supermarkets to stop selling meat from chicken breeds selected for rapid growth. 

More than 99% of individual respondents supported mandatory method-of-production labeling during the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs's 2024 consultation, with an estimated 110 million birds benefiting each year from such a move. 

Meanwhile, the activists called on the government to publish a clear roadmap for its 2025 Animal Welfare Strategy to ensure accountability. 

What's being done?

According to Vegan Food & Living, the Netherlands stopped using these breeds throughout its fresh retail poultry market and introduced draft legislation to ban them by 2040. Norway's poultry industry has pledged to phase them out domestically by 2027.

Denmark, meanwhile, has removed fast-growing chickens from public procurement and is pursuing bans nationally and across the European Union.

Where can I learn more?

Concerns about chicken welfare reach beyond public purchasing to poultry companies and meat consumption. 

• In Britain, Pret a Manger faced a 100,000-signature protest after delaying its chicken welfare pledge to 2032.

• Amsterdam banned billboard advertising for meat and fossil fuels, a first for a capital city.

• British shoppers are buying fewer meat substitutes and more beans, tofu, and tempeh.

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