The Chicken Check: who leads and who lags?

Swiss retailers pride themselves on quality, accountability and responsibility; yet none have signed the European Chicken Commitment (ECC), a science-based framework designed to reduce the suffering of broiler chickens.

Over the past month, Sentience has published four reports that examine how the country’s largest retailers – Migros, Coop, Aldi, and Lidl – measure up against the ECC. Today, we bring those findings together in a single ranking: the Chicken Check 2025. Over 9735 emails have been sent to retailers, urging them to sign the ECC. The welfare of over 80 million chickens depends on what happens next…

What to remember:

• Coop is leading, but it is not leading the way
• Migros is in a powerful position, with unfulfilled potential
• Lidl and Aldi both need transparency and continue to lag behind their European counterparts.

Discover the full report on retailers’ compliance with the ECC:

Higher standards on paper means little in practice

Swiss retailers present themselves as champions of quality and accountability; yet their refusal to sign the ECC tells another story. The ECC is the minimum science-based standard for broiler welfare, and it has already been adopted by dozens of companies across Europe.

Our Chicken Check reveals a clear pattern: there is progress on specific criteria such as legal compliance across the supply chain, or stocking density; but none of this matters when fast-growing breeds still represent 92 percent of chickens in Switzerland.

The path is clear, we are asking retailers to:

• Stop hiding behind broad «Swiss-quality» claims whilst relying on fast-growing breeds; treating high-welfare progress as a niche label rather than a baseline
• Continue enforcing existing Swiss-level standards and working with independent auditors; partnering with credible organisations such as STS and WWF
• Start committing publicly to the ECC, with dated roadmaps and full transparency; phasing in slower-growing breeds, publish CAS-percentage data; and aligning with European peers who already signed the ECC

Why does breed selection matter?

These breeds are genetically engineered to reach slaughter weight in a matter of 30 days – their suffering is pre-programmed. Chickens often collapse under their own weight before their short lives end. Until retailers commit to phasing them out, higher standards on paper will mean little in practice.

To be continued

The first phase of this campaign is complete. Now that all the information has been released, the question is: how will they respond? Is a change on the horizon? The welfare of millions of chickens each year depends on what happens next…

Until the next phase, we’re counting on you to keep up the public pressure and continue sending emails to the major retailers.