Holly Spindler
Tesco follows Co-op, Morrisons, and Lidl in announcing more space for chickens...but is it enough?
Tesco, the biggest supermarket in the UK, has announced it will give its own-label fresh chickens 20% more space than the industry standard, starting from early 2025. This follows similar announcements from Co-op, Morrisons, and Lidl over the last year.
The vast majority of chickens sold by supermarkets are raised in cramped, crowded barns, their space reducing as they rapidly balloon in size to reach slaughter weight. Tesco’s commitment will impact an estimated 150 million birds, with the additional space making chickens’ hellish lives a little easier.
This progress is positive. As part of our campaign - ‘Supermarkets Sell Suffering’ - we’ve been asking supermarkets to do better for chickens. We met with Tesco back in 2018-2019 and took action against the supermarket at its AGM in 2022, plus our campaigns against Morrisons, Lidl, and the Co-op, have amassed immense support from the public, who care so much about animals.
With supporters by our side, our campaigning is making a difference, creating significant momentum and a dramatic shift towards better welfare for chickens raised for meat.
Yet this announcement is bittersweet. While we welcome the progress, we cannot allow change for chickens to end there. We’ve been asking supermarkets to sign up to the full Better Chicken Commitment (BCC); an animal welfare policy that not only ensures more space, but also a move to healthier, slower-growing breeds.
Tesco will still continue to sell fast-growing breeds of chicken, or ‘Frankenchickens’. They are bred to grow so fast, their bodies simply can't keep up. These birds often endure lameness, deformities, and early deaths. They live a short life filled with suffering.
We’re glad to see so many supermarkets giving their birds more space, but this is a small first step. We ask supermarkets to stop using Frankenchickens for a reason, it isn’t supposed to be an optional extra. These are birds who grow so big, so fast their bodies can collapse under their own weight. Until Tesco changes the breed of their birds, millions of animals will remain trapped in unnecessary agony.
~ Claire Williams, Campaigns Manager at The Humane League UK
With four of the 'Big Six' supermarkets in the UK having already reduced or committed to reducing stocking density by 2025, we're confident that Aldi and Asda will follow suit. But, in order to end some of the very worst suffering in chickens, all UK supermarkets must commit to the BCC in full. This means a move away from fast-growing breeds that have suffering coded into their DNA.
We won't give up. We’ll continue to campaign until the supermarkets commit to the full BCC and finally end the use of Frankenchickens.
What can you do?
Do you care about animals and want to join our campaigns for chickens? Join us by signing up to our emails. You’ll receive quick and simple actions you can take online that have a big impact for animals.
