Television presenter Chris Packham has urged the cooperative to stop the sale of the so -called “Frankenchickens” when he blamed the “greed of the corporate world” for prioritizing profits on animal welfare.
The station and naturalist joined protesters outside the agm of the supermarket in Manchester. They are asking the chain to abandon the rapid growth chickens serving for meat, known as “Frankenchickens”, of their supply chain.
“Frankenchickens” are raised to produce the maximum amount of meat in the shortest time and can reach a slaughter weight of more than 2.0 kg in five to six weeks, according to the beneficial animal welfare organization, the human league.
Speaking to the AP news agency of the protest, Packham said that the rapid growth rate of chickens puts a “horrendous” load on the “physiology and anatomy” of birds.
“Basically, they are taking too much weight too fast for their skeleton to face it, and we see all kinds of horrible deformities and muscular problems in chickens, they end up breaking into their own excrements, which is acre and burns their skin,” he said.
Some supermarkets justify their use of “Frankenchickens” by arguing that some clients cannot pay the meat raised in better well -being, the environmentalist added.
“To begin with, there is an ethical problem and that is that people with lower income should have so much right to exercise their choices when it comes to animal welfare ethics as any other person,” he said.
“That is completely incorrect to say that people cannot afford to make an ethical decision, well, that the affordability is in the hands of the cooperative.
“They are the ones that are establishing the price and we know very well that supermarkets sell some of the items on their shelves with loss to attract us, where they get profits in other items.”
From the price difference between the chickens collected in higher and lower well -being conditions, Packham continued: “The interesting thing is that I need to be very clear about it, the increase when it comes to chicken is in mercy, do not pound.
“It is a pence we are talking about here, so it is basically the greed of the corporate world, once again, striving to maximize their profits at the expense of high standards of well -being.”
In his message for cooperative customers, Packham said: “Libra in our pockets or wallets is incredibly powerful.
“If we don't buy it, they won't sell it because they are interested in obtaining profits.”
Two years ago, a proposed motion in the AgM Cooperativa (Annual General Meeting) to stop the chain using “Frankenchickens” was approved by 96%, but since then “nothing has happened,” he added.
Another motion to eliminate the use of fast -growing chickens was approved in the AGM on Saturday with 90.94% vote in favor.
According to the motion, the cooperative is supplied with more than 10 million chickens, of 98% of which are “Frankenchickens”.
A cooperative spokesman said: “Animal well -being is extremely important for us and our members, and we work hard to ensure that all animals of our supply chain are taken care of.
“All cooperative cool chicken is 100% British, raised in an environment of lower stocho density and exceeds the standards of red tractors, which places us significantly ahead of most other retailers for chicken welfare.
“We will explore all the opportunities to continue improving the well -being of animals in our supply chain, while considering the impacts on British agriculture, the environment and the prices that our members and customers pay in the store.”
Claire Williams, campaigns manager of the United Kingdom Human League, said: “If human babies grew as fast as Frankenchen would weigh as much as an adult tiger at two months of age, that is almost 300 kilos.
“These birds have been raised to suffer; their lives are marked by pain, stress and load. However, the so -called cooperative ethical retailer continues to sell them.
“This needs to change urgently.”
The members of Saturday's meeting also voted in favor of stopping “all shops” with Israel after the conflict in Gaza.
Citing the previous decision of the “Boicote The Russian products” cooperative after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the motion said: “We urge the Board to show moral courage and leadership, apply the same ethical principles and values that it made to Russia and take out all Israeli products from the shelves.”
The Board said it will consider the thoughts of the members expressed by the non -binding vote.
The motion passed with 72.8% voting in favor.
The supermarket chain is currently recovering after a large cyber attack caused a significant interruption, including naked shelves in many of its stores in recent weeks.
