Shifting UK's poultry meat towards slower-growing breeds

Research is underway at the UK’s Royal Veterinary College (RVC) to provide a comprehensive analysis of the impacts of opportunities for and barriers to moving UK chicken meat production towards better welfare broiler breeds. Selection for fast growth has greatly increased the efficiency of broiler production, leading to the most widely consumed affordable protein across the globe. But multiple breed comparison studies have shown that slower-growing broilers have better welfare outcomes in terms of both health and natural behaviour than traditional fast-growing breeds. This has led to campaigns for producers to shift towards meeting the Better Chicken Commitment standards, but the RVC says that the vast majority of UK production (95%) still relies on fast-growing breeds. Only a few broiler breeder companies can undertake breeding for better welfare, but to achieve real world effect this must be driven by industry demand. A major barrier, according to the RVC, to switching to slower ...