Chicken farmers will need vast, additional amounts of feed and water and consumers would face higher prices if the broiler industry moves toward the slower-growing poultry breeds that some consumers and retailers are demanding, says a poultry trade group. A National Chicken Council spokesman told the Los Angeles Times, “Before it becomes a domino issue like the cage-free eggs, we want our customers to have all of the information on hand while they’re making these decisions.”
Grocery chain Whole Foods Market announced last March that it will require suppliers to switch to slower-maturing chicken breeds and to improve animal welfare conditions by 2024. Two food service companies, Aramark and Compass Group, said they would follow the same Global Animal Partnership standards, said the Los Angeles Times.
Over the past half-century, the broiler industry has adopted chicken breeds that reach market weight of six pounds in seven weeks from birth. Critics such as the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals say the birds gain weight too rapidly for safety. An economic study commissioned by the Chicken Council says that if a third of broiler producers switched to slower-maturing birds, the industry would need an additional 1.5 billion birds per year to produce the same amount of meat as now with a total cost of $9 billion for expenses such as additional feed, buildings and waste disposal.