Biggest slaughterhouse in Denmark will phase out turbo-growing chickens

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Biggest slaughterhouse in Denmark will phase out turbo-growing chickens

27 April 2020
Animal Protection Denmark
News
Denmark's largest poultry slaughterhouse Danpo A/S committed to phase out the fast-growing chicken breed Ross 308 also called the "turbo chicken" by the end of 2021. It will instead base their production on the slowly growing Ranger Gold breed.

Danpo is currently the market leader in Denmark and slaughters approx. 50 million chickens per year. By the year 2021, Danish slower growing chickens will be available for the entire retail and food service market in Denmark.

This is a big step in the right direction for better animal welfare of the many millions of broilers in Denmark. Dyrenes Beskyttelse has, together with other animal welfare organizations, fought to put an end to this grotesque development of the turbo chicken with a sole focus on faster growth and massive animal welfare problems, for many years.

It's a high time, and we think Danpo took a timely decision to base their production on chicken that grows a bit slower, but can in turn both move normally and stand on its legs. It is a huge victory for animal welfare and for the chickens that the turbo-growing chickens that are bred to grow so fast that their body can not keep up with and cannot move normally. 
Pernille Fraas Johnsen, Dyrenes Beskyttelse chief consultant for agricultural animals

Facts about the turbo-growing chicken

  • Grow from 40 grams to 2 kg in just 5 weeks
  • Their organs and bones cannot keep up with the growth
  • 4 out of 5 chickens do not develop normally
  • Flocks are made of up to 40,000 chickens
  • 20 chickens share approx. 1 m2 in the barn.
  • Never go outside
  • Exposed to artificial light and only 6 hours of darkness a day

The post 'Biggest slaughterhouse in Denmark will phase out turbo-growing chickens ' is modified from an article published by Animal Protection Denmark in their original language.