Welfare of chickens raised for meat in Europe: almost 400 companies and supermarkets adopt better standards for animals and consumers. Italy, however, is bringing up the rear.
The report says so “European Chicken Commitment Progress Report 2025” drawn up by the Open Wing Alliance (OWA) and announced byessereanimali, according to which more and more companies are committed to improving breeding conditions by reducing the suffering of over 1.3 billion chickens every year and improving the quality of the meat.
Italy remains at the rear and companies like Coop, despite declaring themselves attentive to farming conditions in their own branded supply chains, have not taken significant steps to align themselves with European competitors. If Coop really wants to be at the forefront, the only way is to join the European Chicken Commitment, thus demonstrating to its customers that it cares about animal welfare and the quality of the products sold on the shelves”, declares Simone Montuschi, president ofessere animali.
The report
According to the data reported in the report, to date 394 companies across Europe have joined the ECC, with a positive impact on the living conditions of over 260 million chickens.
Among the companies operating in Italy there are only:
There is therefore a complete lack of commitment in this sense from the main Italian brands, including Coop, Conad and Esselunga.
According to OWA estimates, the commitment of companies that have adopted ECC will lead to a reduction in suffering for over 1.3 billion animals every year.
Furthermore, according to the data:
The European Chicken Commitment (ECC) is a call from civil society to meet higher animal welfare criteria for chickens raised for meat production. Based on scientific evidence, the ECC standard aims to reduce the most serious suffering caused by intensive farming, including high densities and the use of fast-growing breeds, which cause these animals to reach the ideal slaughter weight in just 30-40 days, with serious damage to their organism. Precisely the introduction of slow-growing chicken breeds is an element correlated not only with direct animal welfare benefits, but also with greater meat quality.
In fact, we all know by now the typical clear signal deriving from the use of fast-growing breeds on the well-being of chickens and on the quality of the meat which is the white stripinga myopathy that manifests itself as white streaks of fat and scar tissue on the chest, visible even to the naked eye. This disease, an indication of inadequate breeding conditions, affects between 50% and 90% of fast-growing chickens, those most used in intensive farming, from which 9 out of 10 Italian chickens come.
The white striping
According to the latest analysis byessereanimali, out of over 600 packs of CONAD, Coop and Esselunga branded chicken breasts, more than 90% of the products examined show clear signs of white striping. In the case of Coop, some packs show the highest percentage of cases with a severe form of this condition.
This is despite the fact that, in its public communications, Coop declares that animal welfare is a fundamental element of its corporate policy, and that the attention to this issue is maximum for its own brand products. White striping does not represent a non-compliance from a veterinary point of view although it derives from a physiological imbalance in which the muscles, especially those of the chest, develop so quickly that they exceed the capacity of the circulatory system to supply sufficient blood and oxygen. This causes a degeneration of muscle fibers – replaced by fibrous tissue and fat – which generates lower quality meat, with an altered nutritional composition compared to healthy meat.
We talked about it here: White striping: 90% of Conad, Coop and Esselunga chicken breasts are affected by the disease, the investigation byessereanimali
The È Animali report also sparked two parliamentary questions addressed to the Ministry of Health and that of Agriculture, signed by deputies Eleonora Evi, Ilenia Malavasi, Gian Antonio Girelli, Marco Furfaro (PD) and Senator Dolores Bevilacqua (M5S). The questions ask the government for clarification on the conditions of chicken farms in Italy. The issue sparked a strong public debate, with over two million people reached by the media and more than 3.5 million views on social media, bringing the issue of white striping and the quality of Made in Italy chicken to unprecedented attention.
HERE is the complete report.
Sources: Open Wing Alliance (OWA) / Being Animals
