Animal Welfare Practices
At Lessing’s Food Service Group, we believe in the welfare of the chickens raised for our supply chain and we are pushing our suppliers to adhere to the highest animal handling and care standards. Humane treatment of chickens, requiring a cage-free and enriched environment that allows the chickens to turn around and flap their wings, is a priority for us. We support the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC), which we became familiar with in 2017. Coming out of the COVID Pandemic, we have refocused our efforts on striving to meet the guidelines provided by the BCC. We acknowledge that there remains room for improvement in our chicken sourcing practices and continue to strive towards the BCC targets to ensure that we source chickens humanely and respectfully. We pledge to report our progress annually.
Progress to date
BCC Component
2024
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
Stocking Density (6 lbs/sq. ft)
23%
38%
60%
85%
100%
100%
Litter Requirements
23%
38%
60%
85%
100%
100%
Lighting Requirements
13%
38%
50%
75%
100%
100%
Environmental Enrichments
13%
38%
50%
75%
100%
100%
CAS Processing
0%
6%
20%
50%
75%
100%
Third Party Auditing
10%
42%
55%
65%
80%
100%
High-Welfare Breeds
0%
0%
10%
35%
75%
100%
Stocking Density (6 lbs/sq. ft)
- 2024
- 23%
- 2025
- 38%
- 2026
- 60%
- 2027
- 85%
- 2028
- 100%
- 2029
- 100%
Litter Requirements
- 2024
- 23%
- 2025
- 38%
- 2026
- 60%
- 2027
- 85%
- 2028
- 100%
- 2029
- 100%
Lighting Requirements
- 2024
- 13%
- 2025
- 38%
- 2026
- 50%
- 2027
- 75%
- 2028
- 100%
- 2029
- 100%
Environmental Enrichments
- 2024
- 13%
- 2025
- 38%
- 2026
- 50%
- 2027
- 75%
- 2028
- 100%
- 2029
- 100%
CAS Processing
- 2024
- 0%
- 2025
- 6%
- 2026
- 20%
- 2027
- 50%
- 2028
- 75%
- 2029
- 100%
Third Party Auditing
- 2024
- 10%
- 2025
- 42%
- 2026
- 55%
- 2027
- 65%
- 2028
- 80%
- 2029
- 100%
High-Welfare Breeds
- 2024
- 0%
- 2025
- 0%
- 2026
- 10%
- 2027
- 35%
- 2028
- 75%
- 2029
- 100%
We are excited to share that like 2024, we did well on executing our Better Chicken Commitment in 2025. On the BCC Components we set goals for, we cleared all seven. We credit our progress to pointing more of our chicken sourcing towards manufacturers doing more to improve animal welfare. We will continue to use this strategy in 2026 and beyond in order to keep the positive momentum.