By Sharon Atieno
With antibiotic overuse in farming fueling the spread of antimicrobial resistance, fast-food companies are improving in their commitments to meet better chicken welfare. However, implementation remains low.
This is according to the findings of The Pecking Order (TPO) 2022 report by World Animal Protection.
According to the report which assessed eight iconic global fast-food restaurants including Burger King, Subway, Nando’s, KFC, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Starbucks and Domino’s, 56% of companies have published a broiler chicken welfare policy or similar commitment.
The most common commitment being the avoidance of the use of cages/multi-tier systems.
This is followed by commitment to third-party auditing by 28% of the companies, use of humane slaughter (25%) and provision of effective enrichment (23%).
The remaining commitments on the use of slower growing breeds and maximum stocking densities were only found in 22% of companies assessed.
Despite this, the TPO 2022 report shows that performance reporting for these commitments is very low.
The assessments found that 18% of the companies reported against the avoidance of cages/multi-tier systems commitment, this is likely due to the higher number of companies having the commitment and its characteristic as a more established broiler welfare issue.
Low levels of reporting are shown on the other commitments, with provision of effective enrichment at 9% and the other commitments related to third party auditing, the use of slower growing breeds, maximum stocking densities and use of humane slaughter being the least reported commitments at 8%.
Further, of the countries assessed where the eight companies operate including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Thailand, USA, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, European countries have shown high level of commitment to farm animal welfare in terms of commitment and performance reporting.
Germany is the best performing with an average overall percentage score of 37%, broken down into 60% for Commitments & Targets and 13% for Performance Reporting.
France had the second highest average overall percentage score at 36%, followed by Spain 23%, Italy and USA at 19%, Australia and Canada at 13% while Croatia at 2% recorded the lowest score followed by Kenya and Thailand at 3%.
France and Germany with average scores of 70% and 67% are leading in Commitments and Targets scores. They are followed by Australia at 38% with China, Croatia, India, Indonesia, Kenya and Thailand recording the lowest average Pillar score of 5%.
The Performance Reporting Pillar is led by France and Germany with an average score of 25% followed by Italy and Spain with an average score of 19%.
The rest of the countries recorded a 0% score showing that only the European countries are reporting their performance by the three brands ( KFC, Burger King and Domino’s) reviewed across all markets.
“The Pecking Order has shone a light on the chicken meat industry over the last four years and highlighted the welfare standards of the most influential global fast-food brands. While we welcome the progress of some, others must be held accountable for their shameful lack of consideration of animal welfare,” Tennyson Williams, Kenya Director, World Animal Protection Africa said in his foreword of the report.
Dr. Victor Yamo, Farming Campaigns Manager at World Animal Protection noted that The Pecking Order 2022 highlights the need for fast-food companies to take urgent action to address animal welfare and human health concerns.
“Consumers are increasingly holding companies accountable for the treatment of animals used in their supply chains, and companies must recognize that there is no justification for profiting from the pain of sentient being,” he said.
