Sainsbury’s has placed a new chicken-based animal welfare standards blog on its website to highlight the importance of the supermarket’s approach to the issue and its commitment to the ethical sourcing of its supplies.
“Today, we’re working hard on a range of programmes to ensure we continue to meet these standards, from funding industry-leading collaborative research to carefully assessing wellbeing using outcome measures such as lameness and disease levels,” said Sainsbury’s.
“Whether you’re looking in our fresh and frozen aisles, or right down to ingredients in our sandwiches, ready meals and pies, all of Sainsbury’s chicken is 100% British. What’s more, it all comes from farms that are Red Tractor assured, as well as meeting our own higher welfare standards.”
It also stressed that good welfare continues off the farm as well as on it.
“All our chickens are carefully handled by specially trained teams of catchers and taken to abattoirs which are independently assessed for welfare,” it stated. “All of Sainsbury’s chicken are stunned prior to slaughter so that the animal can’t feel pain.
“We never use suppliers which slaughter animals without stunning, and all of our abattoirs are fitted with round-the-clock CCTV to help ensure the on-going high levels of welfare.”
