Last Updated on: 22nd November 2023, 11:27 am
This weekend, protests occurred in 30 Lidl stores across the UK in response to the recent viral footage captured by a whistleblower from a chicken farm in Lincolnshire. Demonstrators are accusing the retailer of animal cruelty due to the sale of fast-growing “Frankenchickens”. Tomasz Herok, the former chicken farm worker who recorded the footage, joined activists in Lidl’s flagship central London store.
Tomasz commented, “I’m protesting because retailers like Lidl are not telling the truth. I worked in one of Lidl’s chicken supplier farms for 2 months last year, and I saw things I wouldn’t want anybody to see – birds who were clearly run over simply because they got in the way of a forklift – dying and deformed birds tossed aside like rubbish.”
The footage shows chickens being run over and crushed to death, workers admitting that the illegal abuse is routine, and major welfare problems. The farm manager also confirmed that the chickens ‘go to Lidl’.
Animal welfare groups are demanding that Lidl sign the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC). The BCC has been adopted by hundreds of companies across the world including M&S, Waitrose, KFC and Lidl France. The standards prohibit the sale of fast-growing Frankenchickens raised in overcrowded conditions, which are typical practices in Lidl’s chicken supply chain. The BCC is supported by the RSPCA and UK Government.
Connor Jackson, CEO & Co-founder of Open Cages, the organisation behind the protests, stated: “Lidl is the largest chicken retailer in all of Europe and with great power comes great responsibility. We are all tired of seeing these horrendous videos of animal cruelty. But if Lidl were to sign the Better Chicken Commitment, they would not only improve the lives of millions of animals: they would influence the entire future of this industry.”
So far, 400,000 people have signed a petition asking Lidl to adopt the BCC.
