Denmark wants a national and EU ban on fast-growing 'turbo chickens' over welfare

Denmark's proposal

Danish animal welfare minister Christian Rabjerg Madsen wants to ban the Ross 308 chicken breed, which the Danish press calls 'turbo chickens', at both national and EU level. He told the TV2 news channel that the birds face widespread welfare problems, and the move would make Denmark the first country in the world to restrict the breed. The centre-left coalition took office earlier this year after a vote labelled the 'pig election', and it has already tightened rules for pig farmers before turning to poultry. Madsen put the problem in these words:

“They simply grow too fast for their bodies to keep up.”

The government wants Brussels to take up the measure as well, with the Netherlands expected to back it. Madsen acknowledged that questions over the legal and financial aspects of a ban remain, although a broad group of parties appears to support the proposal.

The hidden-camera documentary

A TV2 documentary with hidden-camera footage from one of Denmark's largest chicken producers aired one day before the minister's announcement. The footage showed chickens kept in fewer hours of darkness than the law requires, which reporters described as illegal, in order to make them eat more and reach a higher slaughter weight. The documentary showed birds struggling to stand or walk. The Ross 308 reaches around 2 kilograms in about 33 days, compared with eight weeks or more for slower-growing breeds, and that rapid gain can lead to injuries and trouble moving. A study published last year by Aarhus University scientists concluded that this faster growth negatively affected chickens' walking ability.

Ireland's exposure

In Ireland, the Ross 308 dominates the broiler sector, which produces over 100 million birds a year for domestic and export markets. The Department of Agriculture said in a statement that Irish commercial producers typically use fast-growing broilers, and it pointed to a 2023 review by the EU food science agency that identified welfare issues linked to fast growth rates. The Irish Farmers' Organisation warned that a European ban on the breed would leave Irish farmers at a clear disadvantage against imports and would worsen food price inflation. The Irish National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) said it had concerns about all fast-growing breeds, and that stocking space is also a problem in intensive chicken farming. Ireland's favourite meat is chicken, with poultry making up more than half of the average person's meat consumption, according to Central Statistics Office data.

Poland's stake

Polish reporting describes Poland as the EU's largest poultry producer, with exports exceeding 2 million tonnes of poultry a year, worth more than 20 billion złoty. The same reporting says Ross 308, alongside the related Cobb 500, accounts for more than 90 percent of Polish broiler production. According to the report, moving to slower-growing breeds would stretch the rearing cycle from roughly 35 to 42 days to between 56 and 70 days. It projects up to 30 to 40 percent less meat a year from the same barn space, and warns that longer rearing would raise feed, water and electricity use and could push up prices on supermarket shelves.

Obstacles at EU level

Denmark had pushed Brussels for an EU-level ban before, and an earlier national-level attempt fizzled. The Dutch government proposed a similar national ban in September, and parliament in The Hague is now considering it, so Denmark's new effort is likely to find a partner there. The poultry firm Danpo indicated it would switch breeds if imports were covered by the ban too, LandbrugsAvisen reported. Chicken sector advocates warned that buyers would turn to imported meat, making it harder for Danish producers to compete. Common EU rules on the free movement of goods complicate any shared ban, which could prove difficult to apply across the bloc.

The European Commission has promised a ban on cages and on killing day-old male chicks in its chicken welfare rules, which it plans to present later this year. It has not announced any bans on specific breeds.