Check, check, check your Chicken: Waitrose is first UK supermarket to ensure 100% of own brand chicken meets higher welfare standards

• Waitrose becomes the first UK supermarket to meet the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC) across all its own brand chicken as the full range hits shelves across the country
• To celebrate the huge milestone, Waitrose is teaming up with comedian and writer Alex Horne to create a new song, ‘Check Your Chicken’, encouraging shoppers to make informed choices about the chicken products they choose
• Shoppers can check out the new single by visiting here.

Waitrose has fulfilled its groundbreaking pledge to the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC) in a leading move for animal welfare. From now, all Waitrose own brand chicken products meet the BCC standards, after first initiating the move in April.

This milestone marks a significant achievement for Waitrose, giving shoppers the assurance that 100% of Waitrose own brand fresh, frozen, and ingredient chicken – from hot honey chicken bites to Cajun mini fillets – is now ethically sourced to industry leading animal welfare standards. This ambitious timeline surpasses the industry-wide deadline of 2026.

The roll-out is supported by a first-of-its-kind animal welfare labelling system across all chicken*, giving customers clear, visual insight into how their food was produced. The five-tier system will help customers make informed decisions by rating chicken based on farming methods and quality of life, with the bottom two tiers absent from all Waitrose own-brand products. 

To celebrate the success, Waitrose is teaming up with comedian, musician, and creator of the BAFTA award winning Taskmaster, Alex Horne, and his band, The Horne Section, to release a tongue-in-cheek track urging the nation to "check, check, check your chicken". 

The new single titled “Check Your Chicken” is a playful anthem that riffs on the childhood earworm, ‘Chick chick chicken’. Designed to encourage shoppers to take a closer look at the welfare credentials of their chicken, it’s a testament to the long-standing dedication to quality, taste and transparency that customers have come to love and expect from Waitrose.

Alex Horne said:  “It’s a privilege to be part of such a positive step for animal welfare. All of Waitrose’s chicken checks out against the Better Chicken Commitment standards or higher, and that’s something worth putting into jingle form. If this song gets people thinking more about where their chicken comes from and how it was raised, then I’ll consider it a successfully catchy tune.”

Nathan Ansell, Chief Customer Officer at Waitrose adds: “Working with our creative partners - and Alex Horne and The Horne Section - we’ve been able to launch a campaign that celebrates our commitments with honesty, humour, and one hell of an earworm. We hope it encourages UK shoppers to check, check, check their chicken.” 

Launching this week, the catchy tune will be heard across TV, social media and in select stores, with the roll-out of BCC products also supported across OOH, paid media, PR and influencer collaborations.

Charlotte Di Cello, Chief Commercial Officer at Waitrose, said: "We’re proud to be the only UK grocer to offer BCC welfare standards as a minimum across all our Waitrose branded chicken products - including fresh, frozen and ingredient chicken. When we say all we mean it, without compromise - all fresh, frozen, sandwiches, pizza, stock, prepared meals, everything. Our customers can be assured that Waitrose continues to be number one for animal welfare."

"We're not stopping there. We're calling on the UK Government to make animal welfare labelling mandatory across all retailers so that all shoppers, regardless of where they buy their food, can make more conscious choices that align with their values. And with a little help from Alex Horne and The Horne Section, we hope the nation will be checking their chicken and singing about better animal welfare too."

What is the Better Chicken Commitment? 

The Better Chicken Commitment (BCC), is a set of higher-welfare standards designed to improve the lives of chickens across the supply chain. By adopting this for not just one range, but every own-brand chicken product in its stores, Waitrose is the first UK supermarket to ensure slower-growing breeds have more space to roam, natural light, and enriched environments that encourage natural behaviours - leading the supermarket flock when it comes to welfare standards.

Customers can find Waitrose’s higher-welfare chicken with the new animal welfare labels now, on shelves in stores and online nationwide, and catch the new track ‘Check Your Chicken’ playing across social platforms.