Avian influenza outbreaks: up 62.9% in 2025 vs 2024 — and Italy ranks last for chicken welfare

Outbreaks reached 699 in 2025, compared with 259 in 2024 (AF Repubblica, 2 March 2026).

In this context, it is worth noting that the leading restaurant and fast-food chains in Italy — Autogrill, Burger King, Ikea, KFC, Starbucks and Subway — perform worst in all of Western Europe on chicken animal-welfare standards, despite chicken being a core ingredient across their menus.

They also rank second-to-last among the seven countries assessed in the league table, level with Poland and only narrowly ahead of Romania.