Lidl has denied allegations of animal cruelty after an employee at a Lidl-affiliated chicken farm in Lincolnshire secretly filmed the animals being repeatedly run over and crushed to death during transport, while workers admitted it on camera “Part of the job.”
Tom Herok, the source of the footage, has publicly spoken out against it “Widespread Animal Cruelty” within the UK chicken industry after the Supreme Court rejected a ban Franconian chicken Agriculture.
The animal welfare organization Open Cages has filed a criminal complaint against the farm for violations of the Animal Welfare Act and the regulations on the protection of livestock and WATEO (welfare of animals during transport).
Lidl – Europe’s largest chicken retailer – is facing a global meat crisis scandal as this video is the fifth in recent months to challenge the supermarket’s chicken welfare claims. The hashtag #LidlChickenScandal went viral on Twitter following the release of the footage, with over 5,000 consumers taking to social media to express their outrage at Lidl.
Photos & Video:
Short summary clip
Full investigation video
photos
Raw material is available upon request
Photo credit: Open cages
SUMMARY OF IMAGE:
- Mr Herok used a hidden camera to document his employment as a farmhand on a chicken farm in Lincolnshire between July and September 2022.
- The operations manager is filmed revealing that the farm supplied Lidl.
- Already on his first day on the farm, Mr. Herok was warned that he would see birds ‘run over.’ Again and again, employees refer to the practice in advance and comment “It’s part of the job and can’t really be avoided.”
- Workers are filmed collecting dozens of gutted birds in the recently emptied coops. It is confirmed that this was the case ‘run over’ and killed by a forklift truck during transport.
- Some of the animals were found alive with serious injuries. A bird with broken legs is seen crawling on the ground. Another lies panting with an open wound exposing his internal organs.
- A worker reveals that birds outside the pens were run over again in broad daylight after falling out of a transport crate. Numerous piles of corpses are thrown into heaps on the farm.
- Workers also reveal that the fast-growing chickens, which are slaughtered as young as six weeks old, “broken legs”, “heart attack”, “choking”, “arthritis”, “deformities” and burns from urine “Constantly burning her feet.”
Tom Herok, a philosophy teacher at the University of Lancaster, reveals in a filmed statement with Open Cages that he spent five months last year engaging with the UK chicken industry to study the welfare of intensively reared ‘Frankenchickens’.
Mr Herok Comments: “Cruelty to animals is rampant in the UK chicken industry and retailers are hiding it from us. I have not only seen animals being carelessly crushed to death on numerous farms that supply retailers such as Lidl. I have seen firsthand the daily struggle of a Franconian chicken. That was it. My job is to put thousands of them out of their misery.
Tom shared the footage with Open Cages, which is campaigning to get major retailers like Lidl to sign the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC). TV presenter and animal rights activist Chris Packham has labeled the footage as “disgraceful” and also called on Lidl to participate.
The BCC is a set of improved chicken welfare standards endorsed by the RSPCA and supported by the British government. M&S, Waitrose, KFC and Lidl France are among the more than 550 companies that have applied – but Lidl in all other countries declined.
Lidl rejects the claims and comments: “The farm and supplier in question does not supply Lidl. We take animal welfare very seriously and have a long-standing commitment to improving animal welfare and traceability standards throughout our supply chain.”
However, Lidl’s own internal documents List 2 sisters as suppliers. The footage itself shows a farm manager pointing out the birds “Go to Lidl.” Additional footage from Open Cages shows 2 Sisters chicken being sold in Lidl stores under the Birchwood label.
Connor Jackson, co-founder of Open Cages, comments:
“Lidl claims to have cut ties with this farm. But that won’t solve the problem. These are exactly the same relentlessly intense and poor conditions at virtually all of Lidl’s broiler supply plants, as Lidl requires in its own policies. That’s why we’ve seen identical scenes of animal suffering in Lidl’s chicken supply chain across the UK and around the world, regardless of company or region. This will continue behind the scenes until Lidl adopts the Better Chicken Commitment standards.”
END
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Photos & Video:
Short summary clip
Full investigation video
photos
Raw material is available upon request.
Photo credit: Open cages
Full evidence of the farm’s connection to Lidl can be provided upon request.
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General media contact:
Connor Jackson, CEO and Co-Founder
open cages
connor.jackson@opencages.org
+447504580011
