Morrisons under fire over 'extreme suffering of chickens'

Supermarket giant Morrisons has come under fire over their 'treatment' of chickens farmed for food.

The Animal Equality UK organisation announced in April that it would be launching a campaign to "call on UK supermarkets to commit to eliminating some of the worst abuses that chickens raised for meat".

The aim of the campaign is to get major supermarkets to sign up to the 'Better Chicken Commitment', which describes itself as a "science-based chicken welfare policy that addresses issues related to breeding for fast-growth and high-yield, housing, stocking density, and slaughter".

So far, companies that have signed up include KFC, Greggs, Nandos, Pizza Express, Waitrose, M&S, Unilever, Nestle, Hello Fresh and YO!, amongst others.

However, non of the eight supermarkets – Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco have not signed up to the scheme.

To start the next part of their campaign, the organisation are first targeting what Morrisons do - When asked why they were targeting Morrisons specifically, Animals Equality UK said: "A few weeks ago, Morrisons announced that it was going to be launching a range of products that meets the set of animal welfare standards that we’re asking retailers to commit to as a bare minimum for the chickens whose flesh they sell.

"This may sound promising, but it’s actually incredibly misleading for customers. The range will only affect a small proportion of the chickens that are killed to be sold on Morrisons’ shelves, leaving others to continue suffering from the most extreme abuses.

"We can’t allow Morrisons to get away with this and we must stop it from setting a precedent with this new range that other supermarkets might follow.

"If enough people contact Morrisons about this crucial issue over the coming days and weeks, its senior staff members will know they have to make a change. This in turn would send a message to the rest of the UK’s supermarkets, as they won’t want to fall behind even further."

But Morrisons has hit back at the campaign, saying that they "deeply care about animal welfare".