Fast-food Chicken restaurants in Kenya serving up shockingly low welfare standards

Some of the largest global fast-food chains operating in Africa – including KFC, Burger King, Dominos Pizza and Subway – are under the spotlight as global charity, World Animal Protection, exposes these companies’ welfare standards for chickens raised for their meat.

‘The Pecking Order (TPO) 2020’ report which ranks how fast food restaurants are performing on their commitment, ambition and transparency on chicken welfare globally, revealing some alarming findings. All businesses operating in Africa are performing worryingly low; no companies have received points for their operations here. This means that consumers are unwittingly buying meat from chickens who are subject to unnecessary suffering and cruelty.

Many of the birds being served at these restaurants live in cramped, poorly ventilated, barren environments with wet and caked litter leading to many of the chickens suffering from lameness and skin lesions. Moreover, most companies are not showing any ambition to improve their standards. In the TPO, companies are assessed via publicly available information on three areas:

• Commitment, their policies clearly state how important the welfare of chickens is to the company;
• Ambition, a defined timeline that demonstrates the objectives, targets and promises a company has made to improve chicken welfare and when they will meet them; and
• Transparency, through their performance reporting, and how clear the company is about living up to its promises on chicken welfare.

The companies assessed are KFC, Burger King, Subway, Domino’s Pizza Group, Domino’s Inc, McDonald’s, Nando’s, Pizza Hut and Starbucks. Also included in the rankings was Java House, Kenya’s largest fast-food chain. The key findings from ‘The pecking order 2020’ are:

• Broiler chicken welfare in Kenya is very poor as all companies have received no points for their operations here.
• Four companies – Burger King, Pizza Hut, Domino’s and Java House were classed as having ‘very poor’ chicken welfare globally.
• Commitments are not coming fast enough – over 160 companies globally have signed up to the Better Chicken Commitment but two thirds of the companies assessed have not done so.
• Commitments are limited to just the USA, Canada and a small number of European countries, so more take up in Africa and globally is crucial and required.
• No company is reporting on performance on all welfare aspects globally. This makes it difficult to hold them accountable for the commitments they’ve made
• Only a third (three of the nine) of companies assessed scored globally above a score of ‘poor’, so most companies are still failing.
• Only one company, KFC, has been ranked as ‘making progress’, based on them signing the Better Chicken Commitment in six European countries– which includes using slower growing chicken breeds and giving chicken more light and space to behave more naturally – and some examples of performance reporting.

While it’s encouraging to see companies like KFC starting to take chicken welfare seriously in parts of Europe, the results remain extremely concerning, demonstrating that most companies have a long way to go to give chickens better lives in Africa. World Animal Protection is challenging these global brands to extend their commitments into their African businesses.

Dr. Victor Yamo, Campaigns Manager at World Animal Protection says: “Millions of African birds live in cramped, poorly ventilated, barren environments with wet and caked litter leading to many of the chickens suffering from lameness and skin lesions. These birds never get the chance to grow at a healthy rate or behave naturally. Instead, their lives are all too often full of pain, fear and stress. There is no excuse why these iconic companies with the power to put an end to this suffering continue causing such suffering for the sake of their own profits.

Dr. Yamo further observes that KFC has taken the right step in committing to the Better Chicken Commitment in 6 European countries – but this now needs to be replicated in Africa since Consumers globally are becoming increasingly concerned about animal welfare, and we will continue to speak up for them and for chickens to put pressure on companies to make real change.“

World Animal Protection is calling on these global companies to lead and ensure that any chickens that are being served at their restaurants are guaranteed a life worth living. The companies assessed in ‘The pecking order’ have a seismic opportunity at their hands and could use their power to improve the lives of hundreds of millions of animals.

To find out more visit: https://www.worldanimalprotection.or.ke/PeckingOrder2020