New evidence has emerged showing that chicken supplied by 2 Sisters is being sold in Lidl GB stores, despite the retailer denying involvement with the recent undercover footage accusing their supplier farms of animal cruelty.
The footage, released last week by a former employee of an intensive chicken farm in Lincolnshire, showed birds being routinely run over by forklift trucks and suffering from major welfare issues such as broken bones, heart attacks, arthritis, ammonia burns and overcrowded conditions.
The farm manager was filmed in the footage stating ‘this size [chicken] here will go to Lidl.’ However, Lidl denied involvement in the allegations, telling the Daily Mirror that “The farm and supplier in question does not supply Lidl GB.”
New photos taken by volunteers and staff members from The Humane League UK and Open Cages in a variety of Lidl GB stores, show welfare-assured ‘Birchwood’ chicken on sale with the 2 Sisters ID code GB 2037. This code can be traced back to the 2 Sisters slaughterhouse in Scunthorpe which the farm in the footage supplies.
Natasha Maynard Reeves, a volunteer for The Humane League UK who took the photos, said: “I was shocked and upset to find the meat from the very slaughterhouse these birds were sent to on sale in Lidl after they had denied any involvement. There is no level of dishonesty they won’t stoop to – Lidl, the blood of millions of suffering chickens is on your hands. No more lies, you must sign the Better Chicken Commitment.”
Connor Jackson, CEO & Co-founder of Open Cages, commented: “Lidl has successfully misled the entire British public – including leading journalists – into thinking they had nothing to do with this horror farm. These new photos prove once and for all that Lidl is accountable to what has happened here.”
Leading animal welfare charities Open Cages, The Humane League UK and the RSPCA are pressing Lidl to adopt the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC) standards, which is a set of improved chicken welfare standards backed by the RSPCA and supported by the UK Government. Supermarkets including M&S, Waitrose and Lidl France have already signed up, but Lidl has refused to do so in any other country.
TV Presenter and animal advocate Chris Packham has called on Lidl to sign up: “Lidl GB is the largest retailer of chicken in Europe with immense power and responsibility. But they’re refusing to end animal cruelty like this. Please, Lidl, use your influence and do the right thing: sign the Better Chicken Commitment.”
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