Up to scratch? How leading global fast-food companies are failing the chickens their businesses depend on. The Pecking Order2 Foreword Executive summary Why protecting chicken welfare is important How fast-food leaders are protecting chickens 2018 Management best practice checklist 3 4 8 14 21 Contents3 Foreword The unacceptable ways that chickens are raised for their meat and the pain and stress they are often caused is rightly putting food retailers under increasing scrutiny. Most of the 60 billion chickens farmed annually worldwide endure acute and severe suffering. Starting as new- born chicks, they are forced to reach their slaughter weight in around 40 days. Such an unnaturally fast growth rate places an enormous strain on their young bodies. Their lives are made even worse through cruel confinement in crowded, featureless and unnaturally lit sheds. For years these brutal farming practices have thrived behind closed doors, invisible to most consumers. But times are changing. Consumer awareness of the high price chickens pay for our fast food enjoyment is increasing, just as it did for the suffering of caged egg-laying hens some years ago. Through our Change for Chickens campaign, awareness is growing. World Animal Protection met with KFC in October 2018. We handed them a petition from more than half a million people in over ten countries urging the company to give its chickens better lives. Forward thinkers from all parts of society are coming together to say, “enough is enough”. Such mounting pressure means the time to act is now. The solutions are already available. These are higher-welfare farming methods using chicken breeds that grow at healthier rates. The chickens enjoy meaningful environments with more space, natural light and enrichment to provide stimulation. These environments promote important natural behaviours and keep these inquisitive, lively animals healthy and active. This higher-welfare approach to chicken production must become the new standard across the globe. Thankfully industry is beginning to embrace these solutions too. Nearly 100 companies have already committed to improving the lives of chickens within the next few years. But there is still a long way to go. And The Pecking Order 2018 the first report of its kind from World Animal Protection exposes just how far. Our assessment shows that some of the biggest and most iconic food companies in the world are doing little to improve the lives of the chickens on which their businesses depend. In the current climate where consumers are calling for change for chickens, companies that do nothing are taking a significant business risk. They are ignoring the opportunities created by higher animal welfare standards. Our intention is for companies to use The Pecking Order 2018 to help identify and implement solutions that will grow their businesses. By doing so they can radically change the lives of the animals they use for the better. This seems like a fair deal. Our doors are open for conversation Jonty Whittleton, global campaign head, World Animal Protection4 Nine of the worlds most iconic fast-food companies are not up to scratch in protecting and managing the welfare of the chickens that make their businesses possible and profitable. Not one of the companies assessed for The Pecking Order 2018 had an effectively-implemented strategic commitment to chicken welfare. This is despite increased customer concern for the way the animals used by these businesses are treated. Chickens that supply the fast-food industry are farmed on a huge industrial scale. Fast growth rates leading to lameness and immense pain and suffering are the norm as is extreme close confinement, in enormous, featureless sheds containing tens of thousands of birds. This report, The Pecking Order 2018, from World Animal Protection is the first ever assessment of global brands commitment to the welfare of chickens farmed for meat. It was conducted in August 2018. The results show an almost universal disregard among the brands within their policies, business targets and objectives for improving the treatment of chickens throughout their global supply chains. Notable exceptions occur in some regions. For example, in the UK, natural light and enrichment are being intro- duced by a few companies. And in the US, big promises have been made by several of the companies featured in The Pecking Order 2018 to transform their treatment of chickens. However, in most areas where they operate, companies do not even guarantee a humane slaughter for the chickens used in their businesses. Brands featured in The Pecking Order 2018 are: Burger King Dominos PLC animals in disasters and animals in the wild. Our practical, solution-focussed approach- es are mobilising consumers, the food indus- try, governments and farmers to transform the lives of farm animals. Through our Change for Chickens campaign, launched in 2016, we are working to end the suffering of the worlds 40 billion chickens factory farmed for their meat78 Why protecting chicken welfare is important Around 60 billion meat chickens also known as broilers are raised around the world for consumption each year. Of these, more than 40 billion are factory farmed. They spend most of their lives in heavily crowded sheds, often with little or no natural light. They have few opportunities to explore, perch, dustbathe, or do many of the things they would naturally do if they were living outside. As global demand for chicken meat and fast food increases, chickens are being forced to change along with the methods used to farm them. Intensively farmed chickens are genetically selected to grow much more rapidly and have disproportionally large chests. As a result, their legs are often unable to support their own body weight. Figure 1.1 shows how the body weight of a typical chicken in the United States has increased substantially during the last century while the market or slaughter age has substantially decreased. This extreme growth rate is even more shocking when comparing the changing physical appearance and weights of chickens over just the last few decades (Figure 1.2). Figure 1.2 How meat chickens have changed * Figure 1.1 Changes in average broiler age and weight at slaughter in the United States 1957 34g 316g 905g 0 days 28 days 56 days 1978 42g 632g 1808g 2005 44g 1396g 4202g *Age-related changes in size of University of Alberta Meat Control strains unselected since 1957 and 1978 and Ross 308 broilers (2005). Within each strain, iages are of same bird at 0, 28 and 56 days of age. Year 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1990 2000 0 5 10 3 2 1 0 4 5 6 Market age (weeks) Body weight (lbs) 15 20 19809 The modern meat chicken has been developed through extreme genetic selection. Each chick- en is expected to reach its slaughter weight in around 40 days a weight it would naturally take around three months for chickens to reach. This rapid growth can cause severe health problems including painful lameness, because the chickens legs cannot support their rapid- ly growing bodies, and heart and lung strain. These health problems mean the animals often spend much of their lives sitting down and are in constant pain from their lameness. Main welfare problems for chickens caused by intensive farming Growing too quickly A typical chicken shed can hold tens of thou- sands of animals. Most sheds are so densely packed that in the last week of their lives, each bird will only have a surface area smaller than an A4 piece of paper in which to live. Conse- quently, they cannot move around or behave naturally. Such severe overcrowding can cause lameness and painful skin diseases. Overcrowding misery 1 210 Cages are used to raise chickens in some ge- ographies and supply chains. These barren sys- tems severely restrict movement and behaviour and involve even more extreme overcrowding. Consumers are already clear that cages are unacceptable for chickens as a result of cam- paigns against the caging of egg-laying hens. The use of cages A typical, featureless chicken shed stops the animals behaving naturally; they cannot perch, forage, explore, or dustbathe to clean their feathers. These natural behaviours are import- ant for chickens health. They help prevent physical problems like lameness and skin problems including sores and rashes. Natural behaviours are vital for stress relief and plea- sure too. Unnatural, boring environments 3 411 Most chickens spend their whole lives in closed sheds without any natural light. Lights are left on for long periods to encourage rapid growth, often with only a short period of darkness. This practice stops the chickens from resting and de- veloping naturally, which increases their stress levels and susceptibility to panic. Unnatural lighting While good quality ground material (litter) is certainly preferred and enables dust bathing, factory-farmed chicken lives are often made a misery by poor quality litter. Because so many chickens live closely together the litter gets wet, thick and dirty with their ammonia-rich drop- pings. These conditions stop the birds naturally scratching and bathing. They can cause painful sores and rashes on their feet, legs and breasts, and harsh ammonia fumes can cause lung and eye problems. Squalid conditions 5 612 We want fast-food chains to only use chickens who grow at a healthier rate and ensure that they are raised in higher-welfare indoor systems. To save billions of chickens from suffering, these higher-welfare indoor systems outlined below, must become the new standard for chicken production across the globe. What must change? Healthier breeds Freedom to move Meaningful environments Companies must use chicken breeds that grow at a healthier rate. Companies must ensure that chickens have the space to behave more natu- rally. Cages must never be used. Companies must give chickens the op- portunity to enjoy natural behaviours via enrichment including perches or platforms and pecking objects natu- ral lighting and high-quality litter. Companies must ensure that chickens are slaughtered using more humane methods that avoid live shackling and render all animals unconscious before slaughter. World Animal Protections specific requirements for improving chicken lives in Europe and for North America can be found here: Europe North America Humane slaughter1314 We want fast-food chains to only use chickens who grow at a healthier rate and ensure that they are raised in higher-welfare indoor systems. To save billions of chickens from suffering, these high- er-welfare indoor systems outlined below, must be- come the new standard for chicken production across the globe. Companies in The Pecking Order 2018 How fast-food leaders are protecting chickens Assessing the situation our methodology This report the first of its kind assesses how nine ma- jor fast-food companies treat the chickens upon which their businesses depend. Pizza Hut Dominos PLC Dominos Inc Subway Starbucks Nandos McDonalds Burger King KFC We used publicly available information provided by each company to assess their performance in the following three key areas. Six questions were applied to each area. Policies The issues that companies choose to focus on. We developed six questions re- lating to management com- mitment to improve chicken welfare. The criteria are focused on our Change for Chickens campaign de- mands. What companies say theyre going to do, and by when. We developed six questions relating to time-bound targets linked to the management commitments outlined in the previous policies section. How companies are report- ing on progress. We devel- oped six questions focused on evidence of how compa- nies are measuring perfor- mance against their chicken welfare commitments as a proportion of their global supply chain. Objectives and targets Performance reporting15 After finalising the scores, companies were graded as below. Very good 1. Corporate commitments 30 points 30 points 30 points 90 points (100%) 75 - 90 25 - 30 59 - 74 20 - 24 43 - 58 15 - 19 27 - 42 10 - 14 11 - 26 5 - 9 0 - 10 0 - 4 Rank Final score Category score Points Good 2. Objectives and targets Fair 3. Performance reporting Total Poor Very poor Failing Companies could achieve a total of 90 points in The Pecking Order 2018. The points are divided as follows. Assessment criteria subject areas16 The published information included: the material on companies corporate (ie parent company) websites the material contained in annual reports corporate responsibility reports and other publications the material on subsidiary company websites company press releases frequently asked questions. Following these initial assessments, individual company reports were reviewed by World Animal Protection to check the factual accuracy of the content and to ensure consistency of the assessment methodology. Final confidential company reports were then created, showing individual scores and comments for each ques- tion, and overall company scores and comparable sector scores. These companies were chosen based on parameters including: Scale They are serving millions of customers worldwide every single day Volume They are serving up meat from hundreds of millions of chickens every year Popularity They are loved by consum- ers around the world who trust them to do the right thing when it comes to ani- mal welfare We rely relied on published information: to encourage better transparency and quality of information published by companies to avoid bias in terms of those companies we are working with to ensure that we assessed companies consistently17 No strategic commitment The Pecking Order 2018 Not one of the nine companies assessed had an effectively implemented strategic commitment to chicken wel- fare. They received grades from D (poor) to F (failing). Of the nine companies, three received poor grades, four received very poor grades and two were given failing grades (see Figure 1). Figure 1.1 Ranking of all companies Overall Policies Targets Reporting Burger King Poor 60% 60% 0% Starbucks Poor 60% 60% 0% Subway Poor 60% 60% 0% McDonalds Very poor 33% 37% 17% KFC Very poor 30% 20% 20% Pizza Hut Very poor 30% 20% 20% Nandos Very poor 23% 20% 20% Dominos, PLC Failing 17% 0% 10% Dominos, Inc Failing 0% 0% 0% Very good Good Fair Failing Very poor Poor18 We found one of the nine companies McDonalds with a published global policy on chicken welfare. However, this policy only covers 70% of the companys operations. The policy is limited in scope by ignoring most of the most important issues affecting chicken welfare, such as healthier breed selection. A further seven companies have published policies, but the policies are only limited to specific geographic regions. And in most cases, the geographic scope is limited to the companies home markets and markets where non-governmental organisations campaign on animal welfare issues. Chicken welfare should be pri- oritised by these companies, regardless o