Your supermarket choices matter

How to choose higher welfare chicken in Australia

Chicken is the most consumed meat in Australia. The average Australian eats about 27 chickens every year.

At the same time, most Australians agree that our current animal welfare standards are not good enough.

Misleading labels and marketing can make it tricky to make choices that truly match your values.

You deserve honest, clear information.

Why chicken labels can be misleading

Chicken labels showing grassy fields and claiming birds are free to range and forage might sound reassuring.

But they often don’t mean what they seem to.

For example:

  • RSPCA Certified* standards don’t (yet) require higher-welfare breeds

  • “Free range” doesn’t mean all chickens are actually able to go outside

  • “No added hormones” is meaningless - hormones are not used in the Australian chicken industry

  • “Organic” has no legal definition, and doesn’t automatically mean it has better animal welfare

*RSPCA Approved has recently rebranded to RSPCA Certified - check out their website to learn more about these changes.

A woman shopping, looking at her phone, with a basket in her left hand, in front of supermarket shelves filled with packaged meat.

Chicken is the most consumed meat in Australia. The average Australian eats about 27 chickens every year.

Misleading labels and marketing can make it tricky to make choices that truly match your values.

You deserve honest, clear information.

Why chicken labels can be misleading

Chicken labels showing grassy fields and claiming birds are free to range and forage might sound reassuring.

But they often don’t mean what they seem to.

For example:

  • RSPCA Certified* standards don’t (yet) require higher-welfare breeds

  • “Free range” doesn’t mean all chickens are actually able to go outside

  • “No added hormones” is meaningless - hormones are not used in the Australian chicken industry

  • “Organic” has no legal definition, and doesn’t automatically mean it has better animal welfare

*RSPCA Approved has recently rebranded to RSPCA Certified - check out their website to learn more about these changes.

A woman shopping for meat at a supermarket, looking at her phone while holding a packaged piece of meat. She has shoulder-length dark hair and is wearing a light blue shirt. There are refrigerated shelves filled with packaged meat in the background.
A woman shopping for meat at a supermarket, looking at her phone while holding a packaged piece of meat. She has shoulder-length dark hair and is wearing a light blue shirt. There are refrigerated shelves filled with packaged meat in the background.

A simpler way to shop kinder

Get your free shopping guide

We’ve created a quick guide to help you:

  • Understand what labels really mean - and how to tell the difference between misleading marketing and genuine information

  • Compare animal welfare standards between products, so you can make the most informed choices

  • Tell supermarkets that you want higher welfare chicken on their shelves

No guilt. No jargon (only what we’ve translated for you).

Just practical help.

And if you don’t eat chicken, share this with someone who does!

A woman with dark hair in a blue jacket holding a white chicken outdoors in a garden. The chicken is Barnaby, a rescued fast-growing meat chicken. He requires specialist care due to his extreme growth.

Share with someone who cares about animals

Most people want to do the right thing — they just don’t know how.

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