Demonstrators from animal protection charity The Humane League UK gathered at 11 KFC restaurants across London, Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, Oxford, Penzance and Glasgow, to bring attention to the company’s use of fast-growing Frankenchickens and hand out leaflets.
KFC admitted last year that it would not meet the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC) targets that it signed up to in 2019, which requires signatories to swap Frankenchickens – which can reach slaughter weight in around 35 days – for healthier and slower-growing birds by 2026.
The chain said it remains committed to the BCC framework despite being unable to meet the 2026 target. More than 380 businesses in the UK and EU have signed the BCC so far, including Greggs, Waitrose, Burger King and Marks & Spencer.
“We held KFC accountable this weekend all across the country, from Cornwall to Scotland,” said Claire Williams, campaigns manager at The Humane League UK.
“This huge company promised to be a trailblazer for animal welfare when it pledged to stop using Frankenchickens in 2019. Now it needs to act. KFC is sourcing millions of birds who grow so big, so quickly that their bodies can collapse in pain. Many struggle with burns, organ failure and deformities. This company claims to ‘believe in chicken’. When will this mean believing in their wellbeing?”
Food Manufacture has reached out to KFC for comment.
According to The Humane League UK, chickens are the most farmed animal in this country, with 1.1 billion raised and killed for meat every year.
As 90% are Frankenchickens, subjected to intensive factory farming conditions, the charity has argued that this is an unrivalled crisis in animal cruelty and fought a judicial review case against the UK Government in October 2024 over the legality of Frankenchickens, which it lost.
KFC said it has invested in its animal welfare report in recent years, with the most recent edition revealing that 67.5% of its birds are provided with enrichment and 62.7% have access to daylight.
This number has risen since the launch of its KPI welfare programme in 2020, while it was named top of the ‘Pecking Order’ by World Animal Protection in 2021.
