FORTY years ago, when chicken meat was still a luxury, fewer than 8 billion broilers a year were consumed worldwide. This year some 49 billion chickens will reach our tables, while out in the factory farms chickens are being hatched, grown and slaughtered with ever-increasing speed to meet the escalating demand for lean protein and fat profits. There is a hidden cost to this, and it is paid by the chickens themselves.
Three decades ago it took nearly three months to grow a broiler chicken to an average slaughter weight of 2 kilograms. This year, a typical fluffy day-old chick…
