KFC lagging behind competitors on chicken welfare in fast-food ranking

Our new The Protein Switch report is a shining a light on the true welfare cost of cheap chicken in the supply chains at some of Australia’s biggest fast-food restaurants. 

Domino’s Australia are industry leaders in chicken welfare, being the only fast-food company in Australia to commit to higher-welfare farming through their adoption of the Better Chicken Commitment, while also ranking highest for having the best offering of more humane and sustainable protein. 

KFC Australia, however, is grossly underperforming across both areas. While KFC and McDonald’s Australia have trialled plant-based options, they remain the only two Australian restaurants that do not offer permanent plant-based. 

Rochelle Flood, Campaign Manager, World Animal Protection said: 

KFC’s refusal to act on chicken welfare goes directly against consumer expectations and where the industry is moving globally on animal welfare and plant-protein. Australian animals and consumers deserve better. They deserve the choice of higher welfare products and a comprehensive range of plant-based options, neither of which KFC are willing to provide.

The chickens crammed on Australian factory farm floors are inquisitive and social animals, yet often live their entire lives in chronic pain, developing unnaturally fast as a result of selective breeding. Millions of chickens who grow unnaturally fast suffer from lameness, skin lesions and even heart failure.

Each year millions of chickens are subjected to unnecessary suffering at the hands of fast-food companies like KFC, who refuse to take the welfare of the animals in their meat supply chain seriously, despite thousands of consumers calling on them to do so.

In a recent survey;

• More than half of Australians said they would you eat at KFC more frequently if the chicken was higher welfare.
•  61% of Australians think it is important for fast-food restaurants to offer plant-based menu options.  

KFC in the UK and six countries across Europe have agreed to providing meat chickens with higher welfare standards. KFC Australia has refused to follow suit. 

With no ethical sourcing practices or plant-based menu options, KFC is failing its customers, and the billions of chickens suffering every year in its supply chain.