! Breaking investigation from Open Cages !

The weak little chicken collapses in her own waste. She is dying from an infection. She is pumped with medicines. But the bacteria inside her body is learning to resist treatment…

Hello. In an exclusive story today on The Times, Open Cages uncovers a scandal of antibiotic resistance in UK chicken meat.

A few months ago we commissioned an accredited laboratory to take a closer look at chicken meat from Lidl. 

Scandal after scandal have revealed how terrible the lives are of chickens in Lidl’s supply chain, but Lidl still denies it. So we went directly to the meat for evidence.

What the laboratory scientists found was beyond imagination:

Lab Detects Multi-Resistant Superbugs In 58% of Lidl’s British Chicken Meat

According to the tests, one in two of the products on Lidl's shelves contain these pathogens. It's likely a result of poor animal welfare: fast-growing chickens get sick all the time, so they need tons of antibiotics.

Take action with us now. Tell Lidl to stop selling frankenchickens!

Happening now:

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So how does antibiotic resistance work?

As you know, the chickens used on today’s farms (or factories as we call them) are fast-growing breeds known as frankenchickens. These poor animals are bred to grow so fast their bodies can’t cope. :(

Consumers who buy chicken meat are totally unaware of the miserable, painful lives these animals endure…. :( But it’s not just cruel, it’s dangerous.

You know how you get sick when you’re stressed? A similar thing happens to fast-growing chickens. They get horrible diseases and infections all the time. :(

The industry’s solution? To pump them full of antibiotics. They compensate for poor conditions by overusing medicines.

But too much medicine and the diseases can learn to resist. And these ‘resistant’ superbugs can get onto the meat and into your body.

They’re called superbugs because they can resist medicine.
And they can infect YOU by travelling on the meat.

“The presence of multi-resistant bacteria in meat is a worrying trend and represents a serious public health concern”, says Timothy Walsh, Professor of Medical Microbiology and Antibiotic Resistance at the University of Oxford. “People can get ill from processing and consuming contaminated meat, and the use of human antibiotics in animal production can have a profound long-term effect on the effectiveness of antibiotics to treat human infections.” 

Even if you don’t eat meat, this concerns you. Millions of people shop in Lidl every day. Anyone could have contact with these germs:

Your friends…
Your family…
Your colleagues…

These findings reveal how when animals suffer, we as consumers suffer too. Let's use this opportunity to fight for change.

Lidl has already agreed to stop selling frankenchickens in France, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. They gave in to public pressure.

Use your voice to pressure Lidl GB now

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Don’t use Twitter? You can still help. Click here to go to the campaign website.

Public pressure works. Just a few months ago Lidl agreed to make important changes to the lives of its chickens in the UK. And it was because of pressure from caring people like you. They care about your opinion as a current or potential customer. Your voice has power.

But Lidl is still selling frankenchickens. Tell Lidl to clean up its act.

Thank you.
Open Cages, on behalf of Chris Packham