KFC, Nando’s & More: Launching the Sustainable Chicken Forum

A coalition of eight major food and drink businesses has established the Sustainable Chicken Forum (SCF), marking a significant shift in how the sector approaches poultry procurement.

The initiative represents a departure from single-issue animal welfare frameworks towards a more comprehensive strategy that addresses the competing demands of ethical sourcing, environmental responsibility and supply security.

Among the founding members are prominent restaurant brands including KFC and Nando's, all of whom have stepped away from the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC).

The move signals growing concern within the food service industry that existing welfare frameworks may not adequately account for the broader sustainability challenges facing the poultry supply chain.

Evidence-based poultry procurement

The forum aims to advance chicken welfare standards while simultaneously addressing the sector's net zero commitments and supply chain vulnerabilities.

Rather than treating animal welfare, environmental impact and food security as separate concerns, the SCF is designed to recognise these elements as interdependent challenges requiring coordinated solutions.

Consumer appetite for chicken products continues to grow, yet this demand coincides with significant supply pressures, creating a situation where businesses must secure consistent supply while simultaneously improving welfare standards and reducing environmental footprint.

The SCF has outlined five core areas of focus.

These include advancing chicken welfare through science-based welfare outcomes, establishing reporting mechanisms to track sector-wide progress and championing continuous improvements in poultry welfare standards.

The forum will also explore research opportunities into the challenges of balancing welfare enhancements with environmental impact and supply consistency.

Additionally, the group intends to engage in policy development that supports British poultry production as part of the wider European and global supply chain.

“The choices and the decisions that the organisations in the chicken supply chain need to make are not straightforward,” says Dr Louise Manning, Agri-food supply chain expert.

“In a difficult time for ensuring a secure, affordable and consistent food supply, minimising the impact of UK production on the environment and ensuring continued employment where alternative opportunities are limited, means evidence-based leadership of the sector is required.

“Whilst some proposed strategies could improve the wellbeing of chickens in the future, at the same time they will limit the ability of the industry and consumers to reduce water footprint and decarbonise food consumption to meet legal and social obligations.

“I welcome the sector leadership being shown by the creation of the Sustainable Chicken Forum in the face of these multiple pressures on the sector and consumers."

Rethinking slower-growing breed requirements

The establishment of the SCF follows the announcement that the eight founding companies are withdrawing from the BCC framework.

These businesses have concluded that the BCC may not provide the appropriate structure for driving progress, primarily due to its requirement to source exclusively slower-growing chicken breeds.

According to the founding members, an exclusive focus on slower-growing breeds overlooks the wider implications for the poultry supply chain.

The environmental impact could be substantial, with these breeds potentially producing 24.4% more greenhouse gas emissions and requiring 34.5% more water compared to existing industry standards.

The supply implications are equally significant.

Across Europe, a transition to slower-growing breeds could reduce overall poultry production by as much as 44%, creating potential availability issues at a time when demand continues to rise.

“Improving chicken welfare while reducing carbon emissions is a complex but important challenge for the sector," says Bob Gordon, Director, Zero Carbon Forum.

"We welcome the Sustainable Chicken Forum’s ambition to decouple increases in emissions from welfare improvements and to adopt a more holistic, system-wide approach.

“The Zero Carbon Forum has successfully worked with the hospitality sector to reduce annual emissions of the sector by 825,000 tonnes.

"We’ve developed industry supplier actions on beef and dairy, in partnership with the industry, to reduce emissions from these supply chains.

"Building on this approach, we will work with leading businesses from across the sector to identify holistic solutions and implement action on chicken.”

Balancing welfare and sustainability

The poultry supply chain faces cumulative pressures that threaten stability during a period of record consumer demand.

Current supply constraints stem from global avian flu outbreaks and production shifts, such as reduced stocking densities, which have inadvertently reduced farming capacity.

In the UK, efforts to move towards lower stocking densities of 30kg per square metre face obstacles from planning rejections for larger facilities.

This creates a bottleneck that could affect both domestic and global chicken availability.

“Our restaurants and food-to-go brands are critical parts of the high street and we know that consumer demand for chicken continues to soar,” says Allen Simpson, Chief Executive, UKHospitality.

“However, this demand comes at a time of acute chicken supply pressures and operators rightly have to ensure consistent and secure supply chains, while continuing to improve welfare standards and cut their environmental impact.

“I’m pleased that businesses are committed to enhancing their ongoing work across welfare and the environment and the Sustainable Chicken Forum will play a vital role to make even more progress, as well as overcoming this shared supply challenge.”

The SCF will continue to examine how welfare standards can be enhanced while simultaneously reducing environmental impact and maintaining a secure, affordable chicken supply for the food and drink sector and consumers.