Revealed: Europe's new meat tycoons
A handful of corporations now dominate the supply of meat, eggs and dairy in parts of Europe, raising concerns about power and influence, consumer choice and the spread of industrial farming
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Meat, eggs and dairy products are increasingly produced by large corporations that use industrial farming methods and wield growing power over multibillion euro supply chains, new research spanning the UK, Spain and Italy has found. For farm animals, more industrial farming usually means more suffering, according to critics. For people, economists warn, the risk of corporate consolidation is that cost savings become profits, not lower prices, even as payments to farmers are squeezed.
Amongst the most prominent findings is almost complete market domination of UK poultry supply by just three companies, while researchers have calculated that just eight businesses control about 70% of the UK’s meat processing turnover overall. In Spain seven companies control half the pork slaughtering business, while five account for nearly half of total dairy turnover. In Italy, an investigation found that only five companies control half the poultry, pig and beef meat supply chain, from slaughtering onwards.
The startling corporate grip of swathes of Europe’s food supply follows a previous investigation that revealed how intensive livestock megafarms have swept across the European Union (EU) and UK in recent years. In 2025, using public records, internal EU data and freedom of information responses, a cross-border team of journalists revealed that there were more than 24,000 industrial-scale chicken and pig farms running across the EU and UK. These are farms housing 40,000 or more poultry birds, 2000 or more fattening pigs or 750 or more breeding pigs.
The largest type of farms, known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) or “megafarms”, were also, for the first time, identified in many European countries. Some of these units can hold more than 1 million chickens or 30,000 pigs. The investigation also uncovered Europe’s emerging factory farm hotspots, including Spain, Italy, France and Poland, which have seen a growth in industrial animal production in recent years.
Corporate consolidation occurs when a few companies come to dominate a sector, often by buying other companies, creating a concentrated marketplace of a few big players. Risks from this kind of concentration stem, in large part, from the power companies enjoy when “market power builds along the chain,” as former chief competition economist for the European Commission’s competition authority, Tommaso Valletti, said in an email.
“Imagine that a concentrated group of processors is able to pay farmers less for their products. If the resulting cost savings are not passed on, they become higher margins for the processors instead,” said Valletti, now professor of economics at Imperial College London. If that happens, he said, farmers can end up with a smaller share of the value pie, while consumers might not benefit from lower prices. Other consumer effects, he added, could include less choice and lower quality.
The largest type of farms, known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) or “megafarms”, were also, for the first time, identified in many European countries.
For farm animals, more industrial farming usually means more suffering, according to critics.
“Imagine that a concentrated group of processors is able to pay farmers less for their products. If the resulting cost savings are not passed on, they become higher margins for the processors instead.”
Tommaso Valletti, Former chief competition economist for the European Commission’s competition authority
Corporate consolidation goes hand in hand with sweep of megafarms across Europe
Dominant companies that expand by vertical integration - essentially buying suppliers, which, in the animal protein sector, might be feed producers or genetic businesses for example - could also make life harder for rivals, said Massimo Motta, who also served as chief competition economist for the European Commission and is now professor of economics at the Barcelona School of Economics.
Although there can be efficiencies from integration, he said, modern research points to risks that “firms enjoying significant market power might foreclose access to important inputs to rival firms.” Foreclosure describes the ability of one company to limit another’s access to resources, such as livestock inventory levels.
Motta added that globally, the animal protein sector “has indeed known levels of excessive concentration and deeper vertical integration, with inputs from fertilisers to logistics, from patents to market information in the hands of very few conglomerate companies.”
Others argue, however, that while having fewer, bigger companies dominating the market might indicate reduced levels of competition, it may also mean the market has all the businesses it can cope with. Commenting on excerpts from the UK report, Cesar Revoredo-Giha, professor of food supply chain economics at Scotland’s Rural College, said in an email that concentration could mean “the market cannot have more firms operating” at the same time because they might lose money.
His view, he added, is that the current structure of the UK meat and dairy market is the result of how narrow the profit margins are due to competition.” This means companies are trying to “capture greater market share to expand their business” and scale up to lower costs.
The increasing concentration and consolidation being seen across the meat and dairy sectors goes hand in hand with the expansion of factory farming, according to some critics, a phenomenon which itself has multiple drivers, including controversial regulatory frameworks, agricultural subsidies, and growing consumer demand for cheap meat. At the same time, internal divisions within the European Commission have hindered meaningful reform, according to campaigners. They say the focus remains on growth and competitiveness over sustainability and ethics.
Those behind intensive livestock farming argue that such production models are necessary to feed growing populations, meet demand for cheap meat and dairy, and ensure food security. They claim that larger farms are typically tightly controlled with high welfare, health and environmental standards and ongoing investments to mitigate problems.
But in reality industrial animal farming is often accompanied by a catalogue of harms, including pollution of rivers, land and air, poor animal health and welfare standards, the spread of disease – including antibiotic resistant bacteria – economic impacts (including price squeezing) on conventional livestock farms, and increasing conflicts in rural areas between corporate-owned farms and local communities.
The increasing concentration and consolidation being seen across the meat and dairy sectors goes hand in hand with the expansion of factory farming.
Internal divisions within the European Commission have hindered meaningful reform, according to campaigners. They say the focus remains on growth and competitiveness over sustainability and ethics.
In reality industrial animal farming is often accompanied by a catalogue of harms, including pollution of rivers, land and air, poor animal health and welfare standards.
Eight companies control 70% of UK meat, five control 60% of dairy, three dominate poultry
One of the clearest examples in the UK report of how companies spread control over their supply chain is Cranswick. Since 2014 it has acquired ten smaller companies, boosting its control over pig and poultry supply chains, with 20% of the company’s revenue now coming from poultry. Purchases included Blakemans, a sausage maker, JSR Genetics, a supplier of breeding pigs, boars and artificial insemination services, Elsham Linc, a meat poultry business, and Crown Chicken, a poultry meat and feed producer.
More broadly, the UK report finds that just eight businesses control about 70% of meat processing turnover, worth an estimated £22 billion (about €25 billion), while five companies account for nearly 60% of dairy processing turnover worth nearly £12 billion (about €13 billion). The meat companies are Cranswick, Pilgrim’s Europe which includes Moy Park, Karro Food Group (owned by Sofina Foods Limited), ABP Food Group, Dawn Meats, Kepak Group, the 2 Sisters Food Group and Avara Foods. The dairy companies are Arla Foods UK, Müller UK & Ireland, Ornua UK, Saputo Dairy UK and Dale Farm.
Pork and poultry processing is even more concentrated, the report finds. In the pork sector, four companies, Cranswick, Pilgrim's Europe, Karro and Dunbia UK, control about 90% of processing turnover, while poultry is dominated by the Brazilian-owned Pilgrim's Europe and Moy Park, the 2 Sisters Food Group and Avara Foods. By itself, Pilgrim’s controls about 30% of sector turnover.
Separately, a report from the UK government’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), found 80% of the UK’s chicken supply is “concentrated” and relies on three firms, Moy Park, Avara and the Boparan Group which owns both the 2 Sisters Food Group and Banham Poultry. In another report, the CMA says the Boparan Group “is estimated to be the largest supplier of chicken in the UK and has few significant rivals.”
The CMA did not respond to an interview request and none of the UK meat and dairy companies commented on the specific findings emailed to them. A spokesperson for the 2 Sisters said they could not respond without reading all three research reports.
British Poultry Council chief executive, Richard Griffiths, told us in an email that consolidation in the UK poultry meat sector was “neither new nor surprising” and that “more robust supply chains” had “driven productivity, investment, and the uptake of technology,” creating a secure sector that is “trusted by tens of millions of consumers.” The council, which represents the poultry industry, did not immediately respond to follow up questions about animal welfare or river pollution by poultry farms.
Seven companies control over half of Spanish pork sector, dairy led by French-owner
Concentration is highest in Spain’s pork sector, where just seven companies control over 50% of all pig slaughtering, and the primary business model is vertical integration, Spanish researchers found. In practical terms, this means a single company controls most stages of production, either directly or through contracts with farmers who must follow the company’s production strategy, it said.
In the overall meat sector, five companies now account for nearly 30% of total turnover of about €12 billion, the Spanish report finds. The companies are Vall Companys, Corporación Alimentaria Guissona, Grupo Jorge, El Pozo Alimentación and Grup Cañigueral.
The 30% figure might suggest that Spain’s meat market is less concentrated than the UK, but the report argues the figure is skewed by an integration model that sees a large number of smaller businesses, particularly livestock farms, which appear to exist in their own right, being controlled by the larger corporations which dominate slaughtering and distribution.
One of the most highly integrated, and fastest growing, Spanish companies, the report says, is Vall Companys, the country’s largest meat group by turnover which hit about €4 billion in 2024, double that of 2019. Its operations span the supply chain, from raising millions of pigs, poultry and cattle, to growing feed crops and slaughtering. At Guissona, integration goes even further with the company owning its own supermarket network.
Dairy industry concentration in Spain is higher than meat, the report finds, with the five largest companies accounting for nearly 48% of an estimated total turnover of close to €11 billion. The top five Spanish dairy companies by turnover are Lactalis, a French owned operation, followed by Central Lechera Asturiana, Pascual, Danone, another French company, and Quesería Entrepinares.
Five companies control half of Italy’s meat
In Italy, the five largest companies account for almost 30% of industrial dairy, poultry, pig and beef supply chains, the report finds. The calculation is based on company production values, a metric similar to turnover, and a total processing sector value of about €45 billion. In Italy, meat and dairy production values are officially divided into two stages: the agricultural or farming stage, and the industrial stage, from slaughter or milk processing onward.
The meat sector has the highest concentration level, with five companies accounting for over half of the industrial phase of the poultry, pig and beef supply chains. They are Agricola Italiana Alimentare, Agricola Tre Valli, Gesco Agricultural Co-operative, Inalca, and Salumifici Granterre.
Levels of vertical integration are high too, particularly in the poultry sector. Here, one company dominates: the Agricola Tre Valli poultry processing cooperative. The cooperative, the report finds, accounts for 38% of the entire industrial phase of the poultry supply chain. The beef sector’s dominant company is Inalca which by itself accounts for just over a quarter of the entire industrial phase of the supply chain.
In Italy’s dairy sector, there is less concentration, but the top five companies still account for just over 23% of the industrial phase. These are Granarolo, Egidio, Galbani, Parmalat, Caseifici Granterre and Zanetti.
Two of the top five, Galbani and Parmalat, are however owned by France’s Lactalis, meaning, the report finds, that the French owner accounts for over 10% of the dairy supply chain. The Italian report adds that cash pooling mechanisms, plus dividend payments and cash generated by cheese and milk sales, means Italian dairy money is “drained daily” into French coffers.
Most Spanish and Italian meat and dairy companies did not respond to requests for comment. Those that did respond declined to comment.
European Commission under pressure over "horrific"conditions on farms
Asked about key findings in the Spanish and Italian reports, a European Commission spokesperson said in an email that given rising demand for proteins, it was “important to ensure that these markets remain competitive.”
They said that while concentration is not in itself anti-competitive and scale “can bring genuine efficiencies,” the Commission would be concerned if “concentration leads to market power” that distorts supply chains. Similarly, they said, while “vertical integration can deliver coordination benefits” there would be concern when “it forecloses the market or shifts risk onto the weakest party.”
To combat problems, they said, the Commission scrutinises “transactions and conduct” along the food chain, “and intervenes where market structures would lock out independent players or harm consumers.” The Commission did not respond to questions about the impacts of consolidation and concentration on animal welfare and the environment.
In the meantime, the Commission is coming under increasing pressure to address the continent's current livestock farming trajectory, and improve welfare conditions on farms.
Graphic new evidence of conditions inside parts of the European chicken industry recently raised fresh questions about animal health and welfare standards on factory farms, as well as highlighted the risks of disease spreading from farms into the food chain.
Undercover pictures showed what campaigners say is now the “norm” for billions of farmed birds across Europe, showing “dead chickens left to decompose among the living,” injured birds “barely able to stand” and others “forced to live in overcrowded conditions where the risk of disease runs high.”
Two separate investigations, carried out in Spain and Hungary, revealed what opponents claim is a “systemic status quo” for billions of poultry reared for meat across the European Union (EU) yet remains entirely legal because of substandard regulations.
The findings come as the EU considers long-awaited revisions to its animal welfare rules and the expected roll out of a continent-wide strategy aiming to ensure the “competitiveness, resilience and environmental sustainability” of the region’s livestock sector.
Additionally, recent research highlighted the impact of increased intensification on conventional and smaller-scale farms across Europe. Official data showed that the EU lost 5.3 million farms between 2005 and 2020, with a 44% decline in small farms. At the same time a 56% increase in the largest types of farms has been recorded across the continent, according to analysis by campaigning giant Greenpeace.
In the UK, despite the country's exit from the EU, a similar pattern was identified across its farming landscape. UK government data shows that between 2017 and 2024, more than 35,000 agricultural businesses closed, part of a wider decline in farming over recent years. In 2025, it was reported that 6365 farms, as well as some forestry and fishing businesses, had closed in one 12 month period.
Whilst some campaigners have expressed alarm at the figures, others say all animal farming is inherently cruel and environmentally unsustainable - and are calling for the wholesale adoption of plant-based diets and agri-systems. They point out that, in a bizarre twist on all this, many of the corporations behind Europe's meat supply are now producing significant quantities of plant-based meat alternatives and other non-animal foodstuffs, showing that a switch away from animal diets can be profitable.
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Reporting and research team: Sophie Kevany, Laura Villadiego, Paolo Riva, Sam Haywood, Francesca Cicculli.
Photography: We Animals, Greenpeace Europe, AGtivist.
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