Store giants face a battery of criticism

Jan 8 2008 by Chris Robinson, The Journal

Will you feel like chicken tonight knowing what really happens behind the scenes? Chris Robinson looks at a new campaign urging shoppers to think twice when they next visit the supermarket.

FAMILIES are being urged to pay more for their food in a new campaign launched to keep battery-farmed chickens off the dinner plate.

Animal charity the RSPCA is now calling on supermarkets across the country to ditch cheap meat from birds reared in poor conditions and is urging shoppers to pay more to ensure a cruel environment is deterred.

It wants only high-welfare chicken – free-range, organic or produced to its own Freedom Food standards – by 2010.

Consumers are urged to sign an online petition, www.supportchickennow.co.uk,  to put pressure on retail bosses.

Officials estimate that around 855 million chickens reared for their meat in the UK every year are kept in cramped, dimly lit spaces.

They say the lack of space given to the birds, around the size of an A4 sheet of paper, combined with the use of chicken breeds that grow extremely quickly, can result in painful leg problems, skin diseases and heart failure.

The move has also secured the backing of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver as part of a series of programmes on Channel 4 highlighting the issue.

Oliver himself publicly slammed supermarket Sainsbury’s, whose advertising campaign he fronts, for failing to turn up to a debate on the issue.

The TV presenter and school meals campaigner spoke out against the firm after he investigated battery farming for Jamie’s Fowl Dinners, to be screened on Channel 4 on Friday. In the documentary he discovers the supermarkets pay farmers as little as 3p for a chicken.

As part of the investigation, he invited the big four supermarkets – Asda, Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s – to speak in a debate on farming methods. However, it has been reported that they all refused.

Oliver receives £1.2m a year from Sainsbury’s to front its advertising campaigns.

A spokesperson for the supermarket defended its actions, pointing out that a senior manager was interviewed by Oliver in the programme.

A spokesman for Morrisons said: “We take animal welfare extremely seriously and are currently working with suppliers to further extend our range of Freedom Food poultry products.”

A Tesco spokesman said the store also took take animal welfare very seriously, adding: “We are the only major supermarket to carry out independent farm inspections over and above the assured chicken standard farm audits.”

An Asda spokesman said its chickens were reared in specialist barns, adding: “All our standard fresh Asda chicken is British and clearly labelled with the little Red Tractor logo guaranteeing it meets strict farm assurance standards.”

The documentary follows on from a three-part documentary which hit screens last night starring another celebrity chef, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

In it he opens his own intensive poultry production unit and a free-range unit for comparison.

North-East animal rights campaigner Helen Kimmins from vegetarian society Viva! said it came down to making the right choice.

“If people don’t know what’s going on, then they can’t really choose the right products,” she said.

“They (battery chickens) are kept in these conditions where they are living in their own urine and faeces and they can develop a condition where scabs appear on their legs. But the shopper will not see these because they are cut off.

“Barn-reared chickens aren’t much better off sometimes. They should be allowed outside in the fresh air.”

Miss Kimmins, 33, from Ryton, Gateshead, a vegetarian for 18 years, said that if people knew what they are buying then they would choose the right product.

She added: “There are a lot of people who do not have much money and will go for the cheaper option. It’s all about making a bit more of an effort sometimes, even if people have to pay a bit more for organic.”

“There’s also the question of price. When you think about how much the supermarkets sell for and how much the farmer makes then it doesn’t add up.”

The RSPCA says about 95% of chickens bred in the UK every year are reared to the industry’s standards.

It revealed that the process of using near-constant dim light discourages the birds’ activity to maximise their growth.

Dr Marc Cooper, an RSPCA farm animal scientist, said: “If people knew how the average chicken was treated before it wound up as their Sunday roast, they would probably be disgusted.

“Everyone has a responsibility to ensure chicken are reared to high standards. We are asking supermarkets to stop selling sub-standard chicken and shoppers to stop buying it.”

Are you ready to give up battery-farmed chicken? email jnl.letters@ncjmedia.co.uk