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Eligibility and criteria

As of September 2017, Compassion revised the criteria for the Good Chicken Award to align it with the new 2026 European Chicken Commitment. Please find the revised welfare criteria below.


You will need to be a well-known or notable food company that can satisfy the following criteria:


Current policy or five year commitment to achieve:

  1. Lower maximum stocking density: equal to or less than 30kg/m2
  2. Genetic growth potential of the birds must be no more than 55g per day
  3. Enrichment provision: natural light, perches/platforms, straw bales and pecking substrates

AND a current policy or 2026 commitment to achieve:

  • 2026 European Chicken Commitment criteria on 100% of the [fresh, frozen and processed] chicken supply (including criteria 1-3 above), including:

    • Adopt controlled atmospheric stunning using inert gas or multi-phase systems, or effective electrical stunning without live inversion*

You will be required to sign a statement of Intent around Effective Electrical Stunning, for those supply chains requiring recoverable stunning – for further information please contact the Food Business team.

You can apply for a Good Chicken Award under the following categories:

  1. Fresh chicken
  2. Frozen chicken
  3. Processed chicken (for example, but limited to: chicken nuggets, burgers and sausages; coated chicken, deli meat, and hot/cold ready to eat chicken products)
  4. Ingredient chicken (composite chicken products such as, but not limited to, chicken sandwiches and salads; chicken ready meals, chicken pasties)

Provided there is a 2026 commitment to the criteria for fresh, frozen and processed chicken across 100% of your supply.

For retailers, as a minimum, the scope of the 2026 commitment may be limited to own brand and tertiary brands, and may be made at the National level. The scope of the commitment must be clearly defined.


Companies can apply via their engagement with the Food Business team and on completion of an application form signed at Director level.

Where an application is made on a commitment basis, Compassion will remain in contact with award winners over the commitment period, to assess progress made and provide continued support. 

Click here for information sheets that support the new Good Chicken Award criteria.


When you apply for a Good Chicken Award, we need to know the following information:

  1. Which third party Assurance Scheme do you currently use or are committing to use? We will check that the Scheme matches the criteria of our Award or is able to match the criteria with additional requirements.
  2. What quantity of chicken is covered by your current or future policy?
    This information allows us to calculate how many chickens will benefit every year from your ‘Good Chicken Award’ policy or commitment. Obviously, if you are able to tell us the number of chickens benefiting per annum from your commitment, that will be much appreciated.
  3. How do you audit your chicken supply or how do you plan to audit it?
    E.g. Contract with your supplier, RSPCA Assured, Label Rouge, other…
  4. Please add any additional information that you would like to share with us, especially the reasons why you want to apply for an award.
    E.g. Why have you chosen to change your current chicken supply policy? Has this change been motivated by your customers?

If you have any questions about the Good Chicken Award, please contact us for advice, or take a look at our Q&A’s here.


For Information - Good Chicken Award Criteria (2010-2017)

The above Good Chicken Award criteria came into effect in September 2017. The previous criteria for the Good Chicken Award up until August 2017 were limited to the following.

You needed to be a well-known or notable food company able to satisfy the welfare criteria below, either as a current policy or on a five year commitment basis:

  2. Slower-growing birds: genetic potential growth rate equal to or less than 50g per day averaged over the growth cycle, or conduct an agreed leg health plan
  3. Enrichment provision: natural light, straw bales, perches, and pecking objects

Applicants could apply for a Good Chicken Award in three different food categories:

  1. Fresh chicken
  2. Frozen chicken
  3. Further processed or ingredient chicken

Retailers were permitted to enter on the basis of their own-label chicken meat in the above categories, EXCLUDING any branded chicken lines sold, and manufacturers were able to apply for leading brands.