Fair or fowl? The state and future of farmed animal welfare in the UK

The Five Freedoms were also built on by Mellor and Reid in the context of the welfare of animals in research, to the Five Domains ('Nutrition,' 'Environment,' 'Health' and 'Behaviour,' which are combined to form the fifth domain, 'Mental State').34 These are not intended as a substitute, but instead attempt to provide a framework for quantifying welfare in captive animals. [...] Their framework focuses on the cumulative duration of physical and psychological suffering within a lifetime.40 However, the sheer number of potential causes of pain and effort of trying to estimate their durations means that it is not practical to use the footprint to estimate and compare welfare on a wider scale at the moment. [...] Further, the catching and transport of broiler chickens for slaughter can lead to high levels of stress, injury and mortality.57 Another issue is the potential for disease outbreaks – and, in turn, mass culling – exemplified by the recent wave of avian flu that led to the death of millions of UK poultry throughout 2022-23.58 18 FAIR OR FOWL? The realities of factory farming: Pigs Factory farmed pi. [...] A 2021 study, based on the National Diet and Nutrition Survey reported that average daily poultry consumption in the UK rose from 32.0g in 2008/09 to 35.3g in 2018/19 – an increase of 10% over the decade.121 In that dataset, poultry was the only type of meat to increase, gaining share at the expense of pork, beef and lamb. [...] Needless to say, a reduction in meat consumption of the scale of the Germans would have the biggest impact on the lives of broiler chickens, as it would result in 42.3 million fewer kept in factory farms – around a third (35%) of the current broiler factory farm population.