2022 European ChickenTrack Highlights

In April 2023, Compassion launched its first annual European ChickenTrack , measuring the progress of 73 commitments made by 60 companies, based on their geographical relevance and size. (Note: some companies have made several individual commitments across multiple markets in Europe).

The data analysed is derived from companies’ publicly disclosed information and the report provides a baseline for tracking year-on-year company progress.

The 2022 Report highlights progress for 31 (42%) of the commitments with 12 commitments reporting 100% compliance with at least one of the BCC criteria. However, more than half of commitments (42) across 37 companies (58%) do not have any progress reported against them.

Only Norwegian producer Norsk Kylling is 100% compliant with the BCC across its entire chicken production and just four company commitments (5%) report progress against full BCC compliance – REMA 1000 at 96%, Eroski at 39%, Elior at 22% and IKEA at 3%.

The report shows that France has the most companies reporting (11), followed by the UK (8).

ChickenTrack details improvements across the six specific criteria of the Better Chicken Commitment:

stocking density (the most reported criteria for 25 commitments), average transition 30%
breed change (reported for 21 commitments), average transition 21%
natural light provision (reported for 23 commitments), average transition 43%
enrichment provision (reported for 24 commitments), average transition 47%
controlled atmospheric stunning (CAS) (reported for 19 commitments), average transition 54%
auditing to BCC compliance – reported by one company only, M&S

Of the 27 commitments:

12 are from retailers or meal kit providers (transition ranges from average 37% for breed to 76% for CAS), including:
- M&S which is 100% compliant on all their fresh chicken (31% of all chicken they sell) and the remainder is 100% compliant on natural light, enrichment and CAS slaughter.
- Waitrose & Partners is 100% compliant on natural light, enrichment, CAS slaughter and stocking density, but not breed change.
9 are from restaurants (transition ranges from average 9% for breed to 51% for enrichment), including:
- Greggs which is 53% compliant for stocking density and 64% compliant for enrichment.
- Papa Johns which is 60% compliant for stocking density, 50% compliant for natural light and 56% compliant for enrichment.
2 are from food service and hospitality organisations, including:
- Compass Group which is 44% compliant on natural light and enrichment.
- Sodexo which is 9% compliant on stocking density.
4 are from manufacturers (transition ranges from average 7% for breed to 43% for CAS), including Danone which is 70% compliant for stocking density, natural light and enrichment, 60% compliant for CAS systems and 20% compliant on breed change.

Of the six producers (2 Sisters Food Group, Fileni, Galliance, Plukon Food Group, PD Hook (Hatcheries) Ltd and LDC) with pledges to supply BCC-standard chicken, only 2 Sisters Food Group is reporting on its BCC-compliant chicken offer.

Key Steps for Better Broiler Welfare