The Humane League UK: How can the poultry industry maintain profits while boosting welfare?
04 Nov 2025 | The Human League UK
We speak with Claire Williams, campaigns manager at The Humane League UK, about the current state of animal welfare in the poultry industry. We discuss the rise of fast-growing chicken breeds, their legal status across Europe, the challenge of balancing profit with welfare standards, and the effectiveness of current labeling schemes.
OK, I'm joined by Claire Williams of the Humane League UK.
Hi there.
Hi there, thank you for having me.
So my first question is, is the UK poultry industry profiting from poor welfare conditions, and if so, how?
Simply put, yes.
The industry wants to produce the most amount of meat in the shortest amount of time, and, this comes at the cost of suffering to the chicken.
Around 90% of UK chickens are fast growing breeds of chickens, which we call Franken chickens.
And this equates to around a billion chickens a year in the UK.
And this fast growth can cause suffering in the form of lameness, heart attacks, bone deformities, they can cause really painful chemical burns, to a chicken's body from lying in their own waste.
They grow so quickly that their bodies struggle to keep up and they can literally buckle under their own weight.
When we talk about laying hens.
Kept in cages, it's really easy to visualize the suffering of a, a hen trapped in a cage.
We say that with a fast growing broiler chicken that their body is their cage.
Their suffering is built into their DNA, and there are commercially viable, slower growing breeds that can be used and have been proven to suffer less.
But this will come at a cost to the industry and it's a change that they seemingly don't want to adopt in a widespread way at the moment at least, meaning that yes, they are knowingly profiting from poor welfare standards.
Brilliant.
And , why do you argue that fast growing chicken breeds are illegal under UK law?
So there's, the welfare of Farmed Animals regulations 2007, and this bans the farming of animals whose genetics means they must suffer.
This year during our judicial review, the High Court confirmed that farmers must avoid such breeds and that cost or convenience don't excuse cruelty.
So it's just very hard to see how the use of franken chickens is legal when all the major science shows they always have worse health and welfare outcomes than slower growing breeds of chickens.
OK and what's your response to the British Poultry Council's claim that welfare issues are bad for business?
The suffering of fast growing breeds is systemic.
It, it is the business model.
And additionally, every week there are 1.5 million UK meat chickens, which die on farms before slaughter.
So yeah, the industry breeds birds for maximum size and profit, not for health.
And, consumers just don't see this because it's just hidden behind, closed doors.
We campaign for standards of the better chicken commitment, which include the adoption of slower growing breeds of chickens.
And this is just a much better, more holistic way of farming for both chickens and farmers.
Anecdotally, we know this from speaking to farmers who farm to higher welfare standards.
And we'd like to see the better chicken commitment become the new baseline standard to reduce the worst forms of suffering.
Which was really the reason for its creation almost 10 years ago now.
Brilliant, and , do schemes like the red tractor scheme genuinely protect animal welfare, or do they mislead consumers?
So red red tractor is better than the legal minimum requirements, but their baseline standards do allow franken chickens.
So yes, they, their label does mislead consumers into thinking that birds have had decent lives.
It doesn't, it also doesn't help that supermarkets themselves market their products in misleading ways.
Another thing that we campaign for is more transparent labeling of animal products.
I don't know if you've seen in the last couple of weeks that Waitrose has actually started advertising the better chicken commitment.
And I think they're doing this to really differentiate themselves from the higher welfare labels that we're seeing today and these claims of healthier and happier chickens, and, now that the industry has adopted more space for chickens, which is great, and this is part of the better chicken commitment and something we're calling for.
And, space does reduce suffering, but just as not as much as changing the breed of chicken to a slower growing breed like Waitrose has done.
Then you've also got, you know, assurance schemes such as RSPCA assured, and then Red Tractor does have an enhanced welfare label, and both of these do align with the better chicken commitment and are more meaningful, but this jumble of welfare labels and descriptors mainly do just confuse the public.
Right.
And then what would an optimal poultry industry look like to you and could that ever be profitable?
Yes, so, as an organization, the Humane League UK, does advocate for keeping animals off your plate, but, we are realistic that particularly with chicken consumption, it is on the rise each year in the UK.
So our main aim is to reduce the suffering that's happening right now for chickens.
Commercially, organic and free range farming is best in terms of welfare, but we also know that this is costly.
Yeah, we really do think that the better chicken commitment can be profitable whilst reducing the worst suffering for chickens.
M&S and and Waitrose have both fully adopted the better chicken commitment, and I believe it's going for them.
Of course, we know that there will need to be an initial financial investment from the industry, as as, you know, various planning permissions to implement a breed change, but , I think maybe we, we do need to look at the industry itself and, and even question our own consumption of chicken.
There is just so much waste in the industry.
Earlier I spoke about the 1.5 million chickens dying each week on UK farms before they even reach the supermarket shelves.
And as consumers, there is just a lot of chicken that gets thrown away as food waste.
So I do question whether we really need so much choice.
And I know this doesn't happen in all the supermarkets, but do we really need 20 different cuts of chicken in the supermarket?
Do we need 5 different chicken shops on our local high street?
I think that less and better is definitely something we should be thinking about more and striving for.
Brilliant.
And my last question is, if the better chicken commitment became law, what would change overnight?
So yeah, if the vetterton commitment became law, it would be the biggest farmed animal welfare win in UK history.
It would just mean the industry would shift from franken chickens to healthier, slower growing breeds.
But yeah, we wouldn't expect to see this overnight.
There'd need to be time to scale up production.
And to create support for farmers from supermarkets, but also the government perhaps in forms of subsidies.
And if this did become the norm, then costs would naturally fall as a new baseline is set.
Yeah, we really do think that the Betterton commitment is a practical path to a better future for animals, for farmers, and for consumers.
And yeah, we'll continue to campaign for the full adoption in the UK and for a phase out of Franken chickens.
Brilliant, Claire.
Thank you.
Thank you.
