KFC UK Tops Chicken Welfare Charts, A Reflection of our Focus on Chicken Health and Farming Practices

A new KFC opens somewhere in the world every six hours, and we are committed to minimizing our environmental impact as we grow. As part of our long-standing commitment to a sustainable supply chain, we introduced new global chicken welfare guidelines last year. As part of this effort, we work with our chicken farmers, suppliers and partners in communities around the world to improve the overall health and well-being of chickens raised for food. 

The guidelines focus on chicken health and farming practices across all areas of the supply chain, including raising, handling, transporting, and processing. The guidelines are the culmination of an extensive evaluation process conducted over the past year, in conjunction with KFC suppliers, partners and third-party industry experts worldwide. Get more details here on the guidelines and how they were determined. 

A year on, we’re really proud to share that KFC UK & Ireland has been awarded the top spot of World Animal Protection’s Pecking Order for 2021. The report, which independently ranks a number of big restaurant brands on their progress on chicken welfare, placed us in Tier One (Leading) in the UK. You can read the report here.

Our team in the UK has been a leader in our commitment to raising standards and developing close partnerships with real experts like Compassion In World Farming and World Animal Protection. Back in 2019, the team signed the Better Chicken Commitment. It’s an ambitious set of chicken welfare goals, ranging from creating more barn space to introducing slower-growing breeds. KFC UKI was the first in our sector to sign up, meaning every one of our poultry suppliers there has to meet those standards. The team has also called for others in the industry to sign up, and continues to work closely with suppliers and NGO partners in a combined effort to raise industry standards across the board.

Most recently, KFC UK & Ireland has also dropped “the c-bomb” on its journey to raise standards and is committing to driving transparency by actually talking about chickens and their welfare “head-on.” You can watch their first ad about it here:

We’re proud to be driving meaningful change in this area, but make no mistake, we recognize and accept that there’s always more work to be done and we’re passionate about making significant and timely changes to build an even more sustainable supply chain. I personally have never met a group of people whose passion and commitment to improving our standards reaches further than the team behind this work at KFC. They continue to work tirelessly so we can make even bolder improvements and accelerate our progress around the world in this critical area.