Fast food chain KFC needs to stop using ‘Frankenchicken’ breeds, the charity The Humane League UK has said following the publication of the company’s animal welfare report revealed rising levels of suffering.

Two of the fried-chicken chains’ key welfare indicators have worsened in the last year, with 30.4 per cent of their chickens suffering from footpad dermatitis and 12.2 per cent from hock burns - according to its own report.

Jodi Darwood a campaigner with The Humane League UK, said: “The more time we spend investigating KFC, the more sinister their ‘believe in chicken’ slogan becomes. 

Overbred

"Nearly one in three of their chickens have feet which are visibly burned by faeces - a horrible mark, left by a life of intense misery. 

"These Frankenchickens, who explode in size until they are slaughtered while still babies, a mere 35 days old, do not have lives worth living. KFC once promised to stop using these breeds - we ask them to hold true to their word, and publish a new roadmap for change.”

Both footpad dermatitis and hock burns are painful conditions caused by chickens lying in their own excrement, which contains such high levels of ammonia that it burns and blisters their skin, causing lesions and ulcers. 

These burns are often visible in the end product and are more prevalent in the overbred, fast-growing breeds campaigners call Frankenchickens.

Meat

Both of these welfare conditions are improved by the use of slower-growing chicken breeds, something KFC promised to adopt by the end of 2026, before walking back their commitment in 2024.

KFC’s animal welfare report has been met with a new wave of protests, with The Humane League UK targeting KFC franchises across the country.

Despite KFC’s reluctance to improve animal welfare, they have announced a £1.5 billion expansion in the UK and Ireland, creating another 500 restaurants, meaning many more Frankenchickens will suffer.

Chickens are the most farmed land animal in the UK, with 1.1 billion raised and killed for meat every year. This is an unrivalled crisis in animal cruelty, The Humane League UK argues, as 90 per cent are Frankenchickens and subjected to intensive factory farming conditions.

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Brendan Montague is an editor of The Ecologist.