2 Sisters Food Group has reached the milestone of more than two million birds produced to the standards of the Better Chicken Commitment – making the business Europe’s biggest higher welfare poultry producer, it has claimed.
The poultry giant said 20% of the 10.5 million chickens it produced a week was now in line with the BCC – an industry-wide standard consisting of six criteria promoting higher animal welfare outcomes, which includes the use of lower stocking densities and slower-growing birds.
As a result, 2 Sisters was now a “lead partner” in the production of M&S’s new, higher welfare Oakham Gold chicken range, which launched last month, it said.
Reaching the milestone was described as “great news and a testament to all the hard work our farmers, processing operations and commercial teams are putting in” by 2 Sisters CEO Ronald Kers.
“We want all our chickens to have as happy lives as possible,” he added. “We’ve listened very closely to our customers – and also consumers – who tell us they want more options when it comes to higher welfare chicken as well.
“We’ll always produce the full range of products, ranging from organic, free-range to standard birds, but as the years go by, more and more people are asking for higher welfare birds that are still competitively priced, and that’s what we’re proud to deliver to help feed the nation.”
2 Sisters’ agricultural team were responsible for implementing the gradual change to higher welfare birds – a process that started more than two years ago across its estate of 60 higher welfare farms in the UK and 177 in Europe.
“This is one of the biggest generational changes for a product offer I can think of in my career,” said 2 Sisters agricultural director Nick Davies.
“I’m very proud to lead the agriculture team here at 2 Sisters to make all this happen, but it’s also down to the breeders, planners, farmers, processing sites and commercial teams for it to be delivered.”
The supplier’s customers had “supported us through this journey and are now delivering ranges in partnership to their consumers that the now met the latest higher welfare, slower grown commitments, well ahead of when they’ve been asked to be implemented”, Davies added.
The move was welcomed by RSPCA Assured, which said it looked forward to “working with them as they continue to grow their RSPCA Assured offering”.
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