Secret film footage captured by activists has shown chickens “collapsing in agony, deformed and dying” at farms supplying Co-op.
The footage shown to the Independent captured birds panting from heat and stress, while dirty floors left the birds lying in their own waste and their eyes stinging, it’s claimed.
Charity Open Cages filmed from August to November last year at three East Midlands farms supplying the supermarket and said their findings revealed chickens “in a horrendous state”, suffering because they are bred to grow much more quickly than their bodies can cope with for a faster turnover.
The videos have raised anger among the supermarket chain’s members, who in May voted by 96% for the chain to consider adopting the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC), which means stopping using fast-growing breeds in favour of birds that grow slowly, a move which has been adopted by both M&S and Greggs.
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The retailer, which prides itself on its animal-welfare ethics, has agreed to consider the change and to give birds more space from next year.
However Open Cages chief executive Connor Jackson said campaigners had been meeting Co-op chiefs for years and they had repeatedly promised to “look into” the problem of “Frankenchickens” all that time.
“They said before the votes that they would not implement the BCC,” he said. “But it was obvious that members were voting for the BCC to be implemented.”
One member, Aaron Browning, told the Independent: “Watching the undercover footage, seeing the bins overflowing with dead chickens, looking at the birds’ twisted legs and bleary eyes – it makes me ashamed to be a member.
“We told the leadership we didn’t want sick Frankenchickens on Co-op shelves.”
In a report last year Co-op said: “We are committed to creating products produced to good animal-welfare standards, regardless of their budget. We have, for many years, been pioneering in our approach to improving the welfare of animals.”
A Co-op spokesperson said: “Ensuring the animals in our supply chain are looked after is a priority for us, and all our fresh chicken meets or exceeds Red Tractor or RSPCA Assured standards.
“Supported by our new commitment, we will be reducing chicken stocking density to give the chickens 20 per cent more space and a healthier life. We are proud supporters of British farming, allowing us to conveniently provide great quality, 100 per cent British meat and poultry.”
A spokesman for the company that owns the farms said: “We maintain a zero-tolerance approach to any verifiable non-compliances, although in this case we cannot confirm this footage, filmed a year ago, was taken inside our premises.
“However, for the record, the farms in question are all accredited and have been subject to multiple independent inspections as recently as June 2023.”
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