Outcome-based welfare metrics for commercial poultry provide more reliable welfare assessment than input-based checks.
Resource-based welfare audits that check provision of space, enrichment, and lighting pass farms that may still have poor welfare outcomes. Outcome-based metrics that measure the animals themselves — feather cover, foot health, gait, mortality — provide more reliable assessment of actual welfare. Assurance schemes transitioning to outcome-based auditing are more welfare-predictive and harder for farms to game.