Race for cheap meat ‘drives down welfare standards at factory farms’

The number of animals held in UK factory farms has reached a record high, with campaigners warning that demand for cheap meat is driving down welfare conditions.

An estimated 280 million animals were living in factory farms in the UK at any one time in 2023, according to research by the wildlife charity World Animal Protection (WPA) – a 23 per cent increase since 2017.

Factory farming is defined by the charity as “intensive indoor systems of rearing large numbers of animals under strictly controlled conditions, to maximise production and profit”.

The WPA found there were 1,821 farms in the UK that met this definition in 2023, up 13 per cent from 1,612 in 2017.

Chickens and pigs are the most likely to be living in these types of intensive conditions. The report found that 95 per cent of UK chickens bred for meat and 73 per cent of UK pigs live in the lowest possible welfare conditions legally allowed.

Lindsay Duncan, WPA UK farming campaigns manager, said the rise of intensive animal farming had been a gradual process that began in the 1950s as a result of “consumer demand and the price of food”.

“These animals are kept in huge numbers, often thousands, in barns. They are in cramped conditions… They don’t have a huge amount of space to move around, they don’t get to go outside, they don’t get to feel the grass under their feet.”

According to the report, 72 per cent of piglets on UK farms have had their tails “docked”, a process that involves them having their tails cut off “without adequate pain relief”. This is done because intensively farmed pigs can resort to biting each other’s tails off, which is believed to be a result of boredom or stress.

The report said chickens can develop organ and limb problems, as well as “hock burns” from living in their own waste.

In 2022, more than 80 million chickens died before reaching slaughter weight, according to animal welfare campaign Open Cages – a mortality rate of nearly 7 per cent. Research by Which? found that, in 2019, a kilogram of chicken cost £2.77, compared with £4.87 in 1988 when factoring in inflation.

Poultry consumption in the UK is forecast to rise to 30.55kg per person annually in 2027, a 30.8 per cent increase since 2007. In 1950 it was around 0.750 kg per person, per year. Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, which represents major supermarkets, said: “Retailers source their meat from a variety of farms… animal welfare will always be a key part of the production standard for all the meat retailers sell.”

A Government spokesperson said: “All farms are closely regulated with more than 4,800 Government-funded farm inspections taking place last year… All farm animals are also protected by comprehensive UK law on animal health and welfare.”

The WPA is calling on the Government to ban the development of new factory farms and the expansion of any existing units.