Dear Fast friends

I’m excited to share that the Open Wing Alliance’s campaign against Lidl in Europe is driving tangible progress. Lidl GB is set to increase space allocated to its own-label fresh chickens by 20% above the current industry standard, with the transition starting this Summer. This move will see the maximum stocking density reduced to 30kg/sqm, and will benefit an estimated 70 million chickens.

The OWA was in negotiations with Lidl until February 2024 when negotiations came to an end but campaign pressure is continuing  in countries across Europe including the UK. 

The collective might of the OWA has enabled us so far to:

→ Conduct 76 in-person protests across Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden and Austria 

→ Obtain over 570,000+ petition signatures 

→ Secure more than 656 media articles across Europe

→ Conduct numerous investigations

→ Gain the support of high-profile individuals

Timeline: The OWA campaign launched in October 2022 led by The Albert Schweitzer Foundation and Animal Welfare Observatory.  The campaign is not over, but this is a milestone in the UK worth celebrating 

Who: The Open Wing Alliance members and specifically THL UK and Open Cages for their work in the UK 

Follow Up: the campaign is still ongoing in Europe and the UK until a full BCC commitment is made. Lidl must adopt the Better Chicken Commitment in full and make progress in the minimum ask countries, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Austria and the UK. This will see the retailer abolish one of the main sources of suffering chickens face and motivate others to move. The fight continues!

Thank you,

Matthew Melton on behalf of The Open Wing Alliance