Frankenchickens: The Unnatural Truth Behind Modern Chicken
DEMAND THAT COMPASS GROUP USA STOP SOURCING FRANKENCHICKENS.
Frankenchickens are chickens selectively bred to grow unnaturally large and abnormally fast, often resulting in extreme pain and muscle disorders. Compass Group USA, the largest foodservice provider in the United States, pledged to end their reliance on Frankenchickens. While the company has published a timeline for fulfilling their promise, they have yet to publicly share concrete actions, such as announcing an official producer partnership, that would enable the commitment’s implementation.
More than 60 million birds bred to suffer are estimated to be in Compass Group’s U.S. supply chain every year—and they can’t wait another minute. Tell Compass Group USA to prove that their roadmap for phasing out Frankenchickens is real—demand decisive action.
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THE TRUTH FROM HATCHING TO SLAUGHTER
UNNATURAL GROWTH, UNBEARABLE SUFFERING
The chicken industry intentionally breeds these birds to grow so unnaturally fast that, on average, they now reach 6.54 pounds in 47 days—six times faster than they did in 1925. Frankenchickens’ immature bones struggle to support them, so the birds often collapse.
APPALLING ENVIRONMENTS, HORRIFIC LIVES
Frankenchickens often suffer lameness, heart disease, and organ failure. They typically live in overcrowded barns with poor lighting where they are unable to engage in behaviors essential to their welfare.
SHACKLED, SHOCKED, SLASHED, SCALDED
Frankenchickens typically die by brutal live-shackle slaughter. The terrified young birds are shackled upside down, painfully shocked, and slashed at the throat before they are submerged in scalding water—many while still conscious.
ROADMAP PUBLISHED. TIME TO DELIVER.
Compass Group failed to meet their original 2024 deadline to ban Frankenchickens and then published an incremental roadmap detailing a new timeline. Despite claiming to be in conversation with suppliers, the company has yet to secure and publicize partnerships with producers specifically for sourcing chicken meat from higher-welfare breeds—a vital step for executing their plan. A roadmap without meaningful action is just words.
COMPASS GROUP’S INFLUENCE—AND ITS RESPONSIBILITY
As the largest foodservice provider in the United States—generating $28.6 billion annually across North America and serving over 13 million meals every day—Compass Group holds immense power and responsibility to shape industry standards and drive meaningful change.
Compass Group profits from chicken cruelty while operating 28 distinct sub-brands, serving many of the most prominent companies, venues, colleges, and universities across all 50 states.
Compass Group’s brand Levy Restaurants serves meat from Frankenchickens to fans at iconic venues like Wrigley Field, Crypto.com Arena, and Barclays Center.
Through Chartwells Higher Ed, Compass Group serves meat from Frankenchickens to students at hundreds of colleges and universities—including NYU, the University of Memphis, and Northwestern University.
Through Bon Appétit Management Company, Compass Group serves meat from Frankenchickens to students and customers at institutions like the University of Pennsylvania, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Emerson College.
TELL COMPASS GROUP: MOVE BEYOND PROMISES AND START MAKING ACTUAL CHANGE!
MONSTROUS GROWTH, VISIBLE SCARS
Meat products from Frankenchickens often bear visible scars from the appalling cruelty the animals endure from hatching to slaughter. Rapid growth can cause muscle diseases like white striping—oxygen-starved muscle fibers replaced with fat and visible as white lines across the breast. While these diseases are not known to pose health risks to consumers, they are evidence of the cruelty suffered by chickens bred for ultra-fast growth.
IT GETS WORSE: SPAGHETTI MEAT, WOODY BREAST, GREEN MUSCLE DISEASE
Other muscle abnormalities are also common in Frankenchickens:
- Spaghetti meat: mushy, soft, and stringy meat created when weak muscles unravel
- Green muscle disease: strangulated, dead muscle that turns meat green
- Woody breast: hard, rubbery meat associated with walking impairment in the bird and the inability to stand up after falling
There is nothing natural about breeding animals to suffer and produce meat with evidence of muscle diseases.*
*The muscle diseases and their impacts on meat discussed here are associated with the practices of (not necessarily the products of) the company featured on this website.
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
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