ChickenTrack

In line with the requirements of the BCC, signatories must publicly disclose and update their progress annually against all criteria. Public disclosure indicates that a company holds itself accountable for the commitments it has made, communicating to investors, customers and other key stakeholders that it takes its social responsibility targets seriously, and can demonstrate progress to BCC compliance.

Companies included in ChickenTrack 2023 were selected based on their geographic relevance, size and ‘chicken footprint'. ChickenTrack shows company progress (as percent transition) against each criterion, or as an overall percent transition to BCC compliance depending on how the company chooses to report. Each sector reports information uniquely, depending on the remit of their operations, which prevents direct comparison of progress across sectors.

For chicken producers, companies included in ChickenTrack have either a full commitment to the BCC (Norsk Kylling), a partial commitment to convert some of their supply (Galliance and Fileni) or a commitment to supply BCC chicken to customers on request (2 Sisters, LDC and Plukon). The inclusion of leading European producers in ChickenTrack demonstrates there is availability of BCC products.

All information in ChickenTrack is based on this publicly disclosed information, such as on the company’s website, its animal welfare policy or ESG/CSR report, or in a press release.

Publicly disclosed data for ChickenTrack is valid for a two-year period to allow for variances in reporting periods and deadline (historically 30^th November).

Percent transition against each criterion: stocking density, breed change, natural light and enrichment provision, humane slaughter and third-party auditing, is encouraged as most companies do not progress each criterion at the same rate. Some companies report on progress to BCC compliance across all criteria; this is then categorized as ‘overall transition’.

An example of a good reporting structure would be as follows:

Once data is collected and verified, transition averages by criteria and sector are produced. There are currently five company sectors in ChickenTrack:

• Retailers & Meal Kits
• Food Service & Hospitality
• Restaurants
• Manufacturers
• Producers

For Retailers & Meal Kits, commitments are made for own-brand chicken and cover 100% fresh, frozen, processed and ingredient in the UK. They also cover 100% fresh, frozen and processed containing >50% chicken in all other countries except Belgium, where only fresh and frozen chicken is covered in the commitments. For companies reporting on some but not all chicken categories included in their commitment, we record their transition as ‘partial reporting’.

Compassion encourages all retailers to extend the parameter of their commitments to also cover processed products containing >50% chicken.

For Food Service & Hospitality and Restaurants, commitments are made for 100% BCC-compliant chicken across all categories, however companies may only report on fresh, frozen or processed products. When this is the case, this is recorded as ‘partial reporting’.

The following definitions apply to the Retailers & Meal Kit category only:

• Branded: Everything that is sold under an industry name
• Own brand: Brands directly owned by the retailers including tertiary and no-name brands.

The following definitions outline the different categories of chicken relevant for Retailers & Meal Kits, Food Service & Hospitality and Restaurants only:

• Fresh: Whole chickens, breast, leg or thigh meat, or other cuts (unfrozen)
• Frozen: Whole chickens, breast, leg or thigh meat, or other cuts (frozen)
• Processed (includes ingredient): Forms of chicken that have been modified (including salting, curing, fermentation, smoking, boiling, frying, battering, breading). E.g., sandwich meat, nuggets, sausages, burgers.