KFC faces backlash over ‘misleading’ portrayal of UK chicken farming

theguardian.com:

KFC has been accused of a “misleading” portrayal of chicken farming after activists revisited a farm recently highlighted in a film by a YouTube influencer.

The Behind the Bucket film published last December saw YouTuber Niko Omilana visit a farm operated by meat company Moy Park, one of Europe’s leading poultry producers, which sells chicken to KFC.

The film has been watched more than 1m times on the Twitter account of the news and entertainment website Joe.

In the film, birds are shown in a shed, with fresh straw covering the floor and perches provided as enrichment.

Visiting the farm in February, undercover investigators working on behalf of the vegan food brand VFC described finding severe overcrowding, little fresh straw and sick, lame and dead birds.

Footage published by VFC from inside the farm, which has capacity for 380,000 birds, appears to show the floor sodden with animal faeces and little or no fresh straw. It also appears to show dead birds lying on the floor and sick, injured or lame birds. Bins containing dead chicken carcasses were also filmed.

Viewing VFC’s footage from the farm, Prof Andrew Knight, from the University of Winchester’s Centre for Animal Welfare, said the birds appeared to be held at “very high stocking density, within a vast shed, which included little to no environmental enrichment”.

He added that the “severe crowding and barren environment meant these birds had very little room to move, and to exercise highly motivated natural behaviours, such as foraging and exploring”.

Paul Roger, a vet and founder member of the Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law Veterinary Association, said birds in VFC’s footage were exhibiting “behavioural signs of stress such as feather pecking and topical skin