Most Slovak retail chains sell chicken affected by white striping disease, according to a survey by Humánny pokrok. The organization claims that some foreign chains refuse to sell such meat.
It points out that this meat contains less protein, more fat, and has a reduced ability to retain water. Retail chains in Slovakia say they are open to discussions.
Thin white lines form on chicken breasts when chickens grow unnaturally fast. According to Humánny pokrok, nearly 98 percent of chicken in the largest Slovak retail chains shows these signs. This is despite many products being labeled as “welfare.”
“The label should indicate that animals are provided with conditions in which they can live a full life. In our country, however, it is just a marketing sticker. Essentially, the chickens labeled as welfare performed just as poorly in our findings,” said Martin Smrek, chairman of the civic association Humánny pokrok.
“It is questionable who conducted the survey and how it was conducted, because, let’s be clear, there is a veterinarian at every slaughterhouse who inspects each chicken after it has been cleaned. If they say the meat is fine and complies with legislation, then such meat is released onto the market and sold,” responded Daniel Molnár, director of the Union of Poultry Farmers of Slovakia.
“We specifically took photographs. Two evaluators assessed all these products independently, and then we reviewed the results together without knowing each other’s evaluations, especially where the assessments did not match,” explained Barbara Bagiová, a veterinary specialist from Humánny pokrok.
Humánny pokrok is calling on retail chains in Slovakia to adopt the European Chicken Commitment. This initiative aims to ensure that chickens do not suffer unnecessarily. Due to selective breeding, chickens have begun to grow 400 percent faster.
“First and foremost, it is important to end the use of fast-growing breeds associated with this extremely rapid and extremely painful growth and replace them with slow-growing breeds that are free from these problems. Their parent companies have already committed to ending the suffering of fast-growing chickens,” said Smrek.
“There are local commitments, but not to the European Chicken Commitment,” noted Martin Krajčovič, chairman of the Slovak Alliance of Modern Trade.
The Slovak Alliance of Modern Trade also points out that meat from slow-growing chickens is more expensive and demand for it could decline.
“There is much greater pressure on feed and water, and such farming produces up to 25 percent more greenhouse gases. Even today, we offer many types of chicken from various farming systems, and it is up to the consumer to choose which meat to buy,” Krajčovič stated.
Humánny pokrok claims that two out of three Slovaks would be willing to pay a higher price.
Source: STVR
