Pathway to Better Chicken Welfare Launched in New Zealand

SPCA WelfarePlus+ and BCC, both backing better breeds

Every chicken deserves a life worth living. Unfortunately, every chicken bred for meat here in New Zealand is trapped in a life of suffering, locked in a prison of poor genetics. Their abnormally explosive growth causes chronic health problems so serious that thousands of chickens die on dirty shed floors, every week.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

New Zealand can do better. But to get better lives for chickens, we must demand change.

In the wake of Radio New Zealand breaking a story on poor conditions on SPCA Certified free-range farms, the SPCA responded with a public launch of its new, more robust programme for chickens bred for meat. In combination with existing Better Chicken Commitment policy holders, this partnership scheme further strengthens the market signal for better breeds.

Healthier, more naturally growing chicken breeds are well established overseas but aren’t yet available here in Aotearoa. Biosecurity restrictions mean chicken meat isn’t imported – all our chicken production is domestic. Right now, all that’s on offer from our mega poultry giants are two broken breeds, the white-feathered Ross 308 and the Cobb 500. These top-heavy baby birds grow like cancer. This won’t change until chicken suppliers and hatcheries see demand for them to put better genetics on the table.

Demand is now being formalised under two banners, united in the same core ask: better chickens.

The internationally accepted Better Chicken Commitment (BCC) is among the highest universally recognised standards. Alongside The Humane League and Animals Aotearoa, the NZ SPCA co-launched the regionally specific Australia-New Zealand Better Chicken Commitment in 2022. Globally, over 600 brands have committed, including New Zealand signatories to this gold-tier policy such as big brands HelloFresh, My Food Bag, The Coffee Club, Columbus Coffee, HELL Pizza and others.

Now, this new development from NZ’s certifying body rolls out the carpet for further formalised BCC demand. As of September 2026, the NZ SPCA announced a new, higher tier to their current standard: SPCA Certified Welfare Plus+ Standards – Meat Chickens.

BurgerFuel is the first brand announced in the partnership with WelfarePlus+ as the first policy holder. “The new SPCA Certified® Welfare Plus+ Standard has been developed to further improve bird welfare beyond the existing SPCA Certified® standards for free-range chickens. The new standard sets the goal both parties want to achieve, and the partnership intends to create the conditions needed to make higher-welfare chicken economically and commercially viable.” says the SPCA on their website.

The Better Chicken Commitment and SPCA Welfare Plus+ are united on the key criteria of changes needed to secure better welfare for chickens. Both require healthier, better breeds, more light, enrichments and other more favourable conditions for commercial chooks, all contributing to more health and less suffering.

Where the two policy programmes currently differ is on implementation timeframes. This is not bureaucratic fine print – for change to actually happen for chickens, the evidence is that pathways and deadlines are essential. The Better Chicken Commitment includes timebound metrics – revisable if required due to market conditions – containing deadlines years in advance for key criteria to be met.

SPCA Welfare Plus+ is currently open-ended on implementation, with no agreed deadline forecast. This is why we refer to the current programme format as “Silver Tier” policy, which is BCC aligned but not all the way there. In future, a timeframe will need to be set to avoid the risk of indefinite welfare-washing, where companies adopt partnership but aren’t required to act on it.

Going forward, what domestic chicken producers need – beyond brand-level buy-in for meaningful welfare improvement – is a strong market signal for improved genetics. This is where there is impactful overlap in both policies, – BCC and SPCA Welfare+. While the Better Chicken Commitment is the original, global set of evidence-based standards for chickens bred for meat, the SPCA’s WelfarePlus+ is an important equivalent and is the practical, local pathway towards eventual fulfilment. Kiwis recognise SPCA clout and are pleased to see the SPCA publicly working on a solution to the chronic problem of broken breeds. For some brands, SPCA WelfarePlus+ could be a good place to start on their journey towards better chicken welfare.

Whatever we call it, chickens need this crucial change and it’s up to us all to deliver, together.