Campaigners marched through central London to deliver a 400 metre-long petition to Pret a Manger in protest at the sandwich shop chain’s use of ‘frankenchickens’.
Activists insisted the group had missed its own targets to phase out fast-growing chickens from low welfare farms as they dropped off a list of 100,000 signatures was dropped off at Pret’s Victoria HQ yesterday afternoon.
Pret has faced a backlash for delaying its commitment to improve its chicken sourcing standards, using 100 per cent slower growing birds by 2032, a pledge made when it joined the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC) in 2018, alongside several other restaurant chains.
Fast-growing ‘frankenchickens’ are reared up to five times faster than birds were in the 1950s, but also more commonly suffer from ailments, including walking disorders, heart failure and skin burns.
Animal welfare campaign group Anima International said Pret was ‘conning’ its customers into believing their food comes from high welfare sources.
Its chief executive Connor Jackson said: ‘Every day people eat at Pret with expectations of high animal welfare, and yet behind their polished marketing, frankenchickens are collapsing in their own waste from leg disorders and heart failure.’
Dr Amir Khan, an NHS GP and TV doctor, called on Pret to ‘put welfare above profit’ and keep its pledge to introduce slower growing chickens.
Speaking outside Pret’s head offices, he said: ‘Over 100,000 people have pledged to take a break from Pret until they do the right thing, and I stand in solidarity with them and with factory farmed chickens that suffer.’
Brands Pret, M&S, Waitrose and Greggs remain members of the BCC, after several major high street brands announced earlier this year they would break with the commitment.
Chains including KFC and the owners of Burger King and Nando’s said they would instead join the Sustainable Chicken Forum, arguing that slower growing breeds were in fact higher polluters than fast growing variants.
The move was condemned by animal welfare charities as a PR exercise to protect profits.
A spokesperson for Pret said: ‘We are disappointed that this campaign group has chosen to target one of the few businesses that remains signed up to the Better Chicken Commitment. Across our UK shops, we only use higher-welfare British chicken, all of which already meets 5 of the 6 Better Chicken Commitment standards.
‘Pret represents a very small proportion of total UK chicken consumption, yet it is the sole focus of Anima’s campaign. There are much larger parts of the market where businesses have stepped back from higher welfare commitments altogether.
‘By targeting us, these activists are sending a signal that businesses that try to do the right thing will be penalised more than those who give up on higher welfare chicken. We doubt that is an outcome animal welfare campaigners would welcome.’