2 Sisters Food Group has announced a new milestone in its history by becoming Europe’s biggest higher welfare poultry producer. The company is now producing the highest number of welfare chickens the Group has recorded.
In a statement 2 Sisters said that this is a “significant milestone in the history of its poultry operations” with more than 20% of the 10.5 million chickens it produces every week now meeting the 2026 Better Chicken Commitment (BCC).
Created by animal welfare non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) in 2019, the current benchmark for higher welfare birds, known as the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC), is a set of six criteria that has be met by 2026.
The criteria are:
- Compliance with all EU animal welfare laws and regulations
- Not exceeding a stocking density of more than 30kg per m2 – which is 30% more room than ‘standard’ protocols, giving chickens more room to roam
- Use higher welfare breeds of chickens that are grown more slowly
- Provide an enriched environment for the birds in barns
- Birds must be slaughtered using humane methods
- All companies must be third-party audited at regular intervals.
According to 2 Sisters, its poultry operation’s agricultural team have been responsible for implementing the gradual change to higher welfare birds, a process which started more than two years ago across the estate of 60 higher welfare farms in the UK and 177 in Europe.
2 Sisters CEO Ronald Kers commented: “We want all our chickens to have as happy lives as possible. We’ve listened very closely to our consumers, who tell us they want more options when it comes to higher welfare chicken as well.”
RSPCA Assured CEO Mike Baker added: “We’re delighted to see 2 Sisters continue to increase the number of chickens they are farming to higher welfare standards. 2 Sisters are long-term partners of RSPCA Assured, working closely with us to drive chicken welfare forward and increase the availability of higher welfare options. We look forward to working with them as they continue to grow their RSPCA Assured offering."
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
