08.07.2010

DEFRA has announced that broiler chickens that are reared for meat in the UK must be stocked at the 2007 EU Directive’s lowest suggested density.
The 2007 EU Directive on the welfare of meat chickens (broilers) provides a maximum stocking density of 33 kilogrammes per square metre (approx 16 chickens) but gives Member States a discretion to permit the higher density of 42 kilogrammes per square metre (about 21 chickens) .
DEFRA have announced that the maximum permitted stocking density for broiler chickens will be 39 kilogrammes per square metre, and that they will not permit the higher density of 42 kilogrammes per square metre.
In 2007, the EU Agriculture Council agreed the Broilers Directive  (2007/43/EC), a Council Directive laying down minimum rules for the protection of broiler chickens kept for meat production. Animal welfare groups have hit out at the new EU welfare Directive, labelling it a "farce".