Press release
After taking a break due to Corona, 20 animal protection groups from 14 different countries are now resuming their campaign against Subway EMEA. In the spirit of the relaunch, they are calling on supporters to join various online protests for a week that will be addressed specifically at the European offices of the sandwich giant.
Led by the Albert Schweitzer Foundation, the alliance demands of Subway to implement higher animal welfare standards for chickens raised for meat, so called broiler chickens, in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The company has already agreed to implement higher standards in the United States and Canada in 2017. The changes are economically feasible and would help reduce the suffering of millions of animals, the organizations argue. Since December 2019 more than 169,000 people have signed the according petition.
»We had paused our campaign against Subway since spring, to not expose anyone to a higher risk of infection and to not intensify the unstable economic situation of franchisees. Since the European management level is not budging, however, we have resumed publicly exerting pressure, for starters just online. We will not be brushed off like that and we will stay persistent because the chickens, whom this is about, are permanently suffering«, Anna-Maria Renner, campaigner of the Albert Schweitzer Foundation, states.
There will not be any protests taking place in front of Subway stores as of now. 42,000 restaurants are affiliated with the franchise giant worldwide.
Background: 30 organizations and 300 companies for more animal welfare
Suffering due to overbreeding, crampedness, life-long boredom in confined spaces as well as stressful, insufficient stunning procedures prior to slaughter are common problems in factory farming. Around 30 animal protection groups have joined forces for the European Chicken Commitment and drafted new requirements to alleviate the suffering of chickens raised for meat. Chickens make up the highest number among all the slaughtered land animals per year, in Germany alone 620 million of them are killed for food purposes. 300 companies worldwide have already committed themselves to joining the European Chicken Commitment and related commitments.
Anna-Maria Renner states: »The European legal minimum standards are not enough to protect these animals from pain and suffering. Subway EMEA has to take responsibility and arrange for better animal protection in Europe. Even Kentucky Fried Chicken is able to do so.«