Limitations and challenges in broiler production: ethical considerations beyond welfare issues

Publication date: 05-08-2026
Extent: 22 pages

Contributions by: Mona F. Giersberg, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Chapter synopsis:

Animal welfare plays an important role within current developments of the broiler sector. Contemporary concepts of animal welfare focus on enabling animals to experience positive states. As animal welfare science builds on societal concerns about an animal’s quality of life, it cannot be separated from ethics. After a general introduction to the topic, this chapter presents three contemporary animal welfare concepts, followed by a discussion of major welfare challenges in broiler production. The fourth part examines the inseparability of welfare and ethics and addresses limitations of welfare-centred perspectives. The fifth section outlines ethical perspectives that are not about how a broiler chicken experiences its life, but about how humans experience a broiler chicken should be. In the following, all introduced perspectives are illustrated using the example of the broiler breeder paradox. This chapter closes with a summary and future trends in research in the field of animal welfare and ethics.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2025.0165.02