Is eating chicken better than eating red meat?

Meat consumption in the UK is declining, and yet more animals are being slaughtered than ever. This is because while the consumption of red meat (meat from cows, pigs, sheep, goats, deer) is decreasing, the consumption of chicken meat is shooting upwards.

People are trading red meat for white meat - but why? The usual arguments for switching to chicken usually hinge on people’s health and the environment. But are these arguments valid?

Is eating chicken instead of red meat better for your health?

High levels of cholesterol are more likely to cause you heart attacks, artery blockages, or strokes. Given that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, killing nearly 18 million people each year, it makes sense that people are seeking to avoid cholesterol.

It was once believed that red meat contained higher levels of cholesterol than white meats like chicken. However, that is no longer believed to be true. In fact, neither chicken nor red meat provide a good solution.

Plant-based options contain no cholesterol at all, cholesterol only being found in animal products, and there are a range of high protein plant sources to choose from, from beans to lentils, chickpeas, tofu, and plant-based meats.

It is also worth noting that the World Health Organisation classified processed meat as a carcinogen (a cancer-causing substance) and red meat as a possible carcinogen. So if someone swapped out red meat for processed chicken their health outcomes could be worse. Lean chicken meat might be safer when it comes to cancer risk, but there are other health considerations.

Chief among these is the fact that over 73% of chicken sold in the UK is crawling with the bacteria campylobacter and nearly 6% with salmonella, which can cause illness and even death.

Is chicken farming bad for society?

Antibiotic resistant bacteria pose a threat to society, and not only to those eating undercooked chicken. As these bacteria multiply and grow in chicken farms, which are often filthy with the waste of the animals, bacteria can escape the barns via the air or waterways.

Antibiotic resistant bacteria are a major health concern, with the UN predicted that 10 million people may be killed by these bacteria yearly by 2050, the same amount of deaths as cancer.

Factory farming of the species from which red meat is procured, like pigs, certainly produces the same problem of antibiotic resistance. However, with an estimated 90% of chickens being factory farmed, and 1.12 billion chickens killed in the UK each year (compared to 10 million pigs), poultry pose the biggest risk to antibiotic resistant bacteria and future pandemics.

In comparison, around 60% of pigs are factory farmed and a large majority of sheep and cows are free-range and live on primarily grass diets. The fact they live in less intensively crowded and dirty environments means there's less chance for antibiotic resistant bacteria and diseases to form in these systems.

Is eating chicken instead of red meat better for animal welfare?

As 40% of pigs and a large majority of cows and sheep live free-range in the UK, the lives of these animals are on average significantly better than the life of an average chicken.

This is not to say that their lives are good. Of course, 60% of pigs being factory farmed is still shockingly high and unacceptable. All these animals, whether organic, free-range or factory farmed, end up in the same slaughterhouses, where terrifying pain and cruelty can be inflicted. Even if an animal has had a terrific life, this does not justify killing them.

Yet with around 90% of chickens being factory farmed in the UK these birds have on average some of the worst lives out of all farmed animals.

Factory farmed chickens tend to be fast-growing breeds or 'frankenchickens', who grow from birth to slaughter weight in around 35 days. This alarmingly fast growth causes them numerous agonising health problems including lameness, organ failure, heart attacks, bone and cartilage deformities and more. With suffering coded into their DNA, these animals have no way to escape.

On top of this, the barns in which they live are often overcrowded, with large flocks containing up to 50,000 animals, more than the population of Canterbury, in a single building.

Not only are chickens more likely to suffer than other farmed animals, but to get the same amount of meat many more animals must suffer. A cow raised for meat will 'yield' about 225kg of meat, but it would take around 150 chickens to get that much meat.

Therefore, buying chicken meat is not more ethical than buying red meat, due to the huge amount of suffering involved in producing it. The best way to reduce the animal suffering inflicted by dietary choices is to leave animals off your plate. If this is not an option for you, look for higher welfare labels like free-range, RSPCA Assured or organic.

Is eating chicken instead of red meat better for the environment?

In terms of raw emissions, red meat is the most polluting of all foods. All animals killed for red meat produce more emissions than birds (although farmed prawns and fish produce more emissions than pigs).

However, raw emissions are not the only measure of environmental impact.

Does chicken farming pollute our rivers?

Several cases in the UK, most famously on the River Wye, have seen industrial chicken farming wreck local habitats and environments. Industrial chicken farms create huge amounts of manure, which is then spread on fields as fertiliser. Then rainwater and erosion washes this manure into rivers, spiking the waters’ phosphate contents and killing wildlife with toxic algal blooms, turning rivers the colour of pea soup.

This is devastating for the local ecology as key species like Atlantic salmon and white clawed crayfish decline. It also makes the rivers unswimmable, and unsafe for humans and their companion animals.

While the farming of other species can also contribute to water pollution, in the UK chicken farms are the major culprits, with 42% of manure in the catchment areas of rivers coming from poultry, with cows and sheep accounting for 27% and 28% respectively.

Chicken farming may produce less emissions than farming mammals, but it is the leading cause of river pollution in the UK. Chicken farming is not good for the environment. Alternatively, adopting a plant-based diet has been touted by Oxford University scientists as the most effective means an individual has at reducing their environmental impact. Even the meat with the lowest environmental impact, organic pork, is eight times worse for the environment than the most damaging plants; conventional oil seeds.

What you can do

In 2019, the EAT-Lancet Commission brought together global experts in human health, sustainability, agriculture, and political science to design the optimal diet for humans and the planet. They found the answer was a diet dominated by whole plant foods.

Therefore, if you are aiming to design a diet that leads to the flourishing of your personal health and health of your society and environment too, neither consuming chicken or red meat will get you there. The answer is more plants, leading to better health outcomes and less cruelty and pollution in the process.