Judicial review challenging using Frankenchickens granted.

The Appeal Court judge Lord Justice Singh stated that a full hearing of the facts regarding fast-growing chickens is in the public interest.

We are arguing that the use of conventional meat chicken breeds which grow unnaturally large, unnaturally fast, breaches the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007. We are represented by the UK's first animal law firm Advocates for Animals.

The law states: 'Animals may only be kept for farming purposes if it can reasonably be expected, on the basis of their genotype or phenotype, that they can be kept without any detrimental effect on their health or welfare.'

But broiler chickens have been genetically selected over decades to prioritise fast growth and produce as much meat in the shortest possible time. As a result, they can suffer from a wide range of health and welfare issues, including heart attacks, lameness, green muscle disease, hock burns and organ failure.

Fast-growing Frankenchickens constitute around 90% of the over one billion meat chickens who are slaughtered each year in the UK.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the defendant in the case, argues that it had no policy which condoned or permitted the use of Frankenchickens, despite fast-growing breeds being standard in the chicken industry.

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This is a big milestone for our case, and will hopefully further the cause of animal welfare across the country. We have beaten the odds to present the horrific lives of fast-growing chickens to the High Court in full, and will strongly make the case that keeping these birds is wholly unlawful. These animals have suffering coded into their DNA, and we hope the justice system will rightly condemn that.

~ Claire Williams, Campaigns Manager at The Humane League UK

The case also challenges the ‘trigger system,’ Defra’s monitoring system aimed at detecting welfare issues associated with conventional breeds, of which the overwhelming majority will be fast-growing chicken breeds.

The trigger system requires vets at abattoirs to report problems, but only if they occur above a given threshold - which we are arguing is far too high.

A final ground of the case argues that the system in place is creating unequal treatment between chicken producers that comply with the law and those who do not.

This is because the trigger system is unlikely to detect legal breaches, meaning producers of conventional breeds engaged in unlawful practices may benefit by placing cheaper chickens on the market and escape punishment.

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