The UK is going contented-chicken crazy right now. For three nights this week, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall took over prime-time Channel 4 to show how cruel so-called ‘standard’ chicken farming is, in Hugh’s Chicken Run.
It made for uncomfortable viewing, not because he crammed 2,500 chicken so densely into a barn that they had no room to move, but because he was technically doing nothing wrong. He was following accepted guidelines for ‘standard’ farming and showing the conditions in which 95% of all chickens eaten in the UK are reared.
The trouble is, this was ‘standard’ farming, not battery farming, which is a whole different matter. Battery hens, which are used to produce eggs before being slaughtered for meat, are kept in tiny cages. Up to five at a time will be crammed into a space just 20in square, giving each chicken a space around three quarters the size of an A4 page. They have no room to spread their wings, no room to move, and usually don’t even see the eggs they produce, as they fall down a chute and roll off to be processed.
Fortunately the European Union is looking to outlaw such conditions, and the UK is signed up to be among the first states to shut down these intensive egg farms. They should all be gone in time for the Olympics.
The public remains split between those who want cheap meat and those who want happy hens, but at least the supermarkets are getting onboard. Sainsbury’s, Morrissons, Waitrose and Marks and Spencer are moving to remove battery-produced eggs from their stores.
Meanwhile Asda, quoted in the Yorkshire Evening Post, stated:
All our standard fresh Asda chicken is British and clearly labelled with the little Red Tractor logo guaranteeing it meets strict farm assurance standards. They are reared in barns that provide warm, dry housing with straw or wood shavings bedding, heating and fresh air controlled by ventilation systems, and have full access to food and fresh drinking water.
We also sell free-range and organic chickens, offering an extensive range to meet the palates and pockets of all our customers.
But that statement is ambiguous. Pretty much all hens kept in barns, even if they are packed in so tight that they can’t move, will have the ‘dry housing with straw or wood shavings bedding, heating and fresh air controlled by ventilation systems, and have full access to food and fresh drinking water’ that Asda claims its chickens have. All of those things are necessary to create plump birds that will attract a good price on the shelf.
The Times reported that ‘Asda insists that it is “working hard” to phase out the use of eggs from caged hens, but has not set a deadline.’
Last year, however, The Poultry Site reported Asda’s justification for continuing to sell eggs from battery hens on the grounds that ‘Caged eggs are cheaper than free range eggs. Many of our customers only have £46 left at the end of the month, and the way they choose something is down to price… Free-range eggs sales are up by 16 per cent year-on-year at Asda, but our customers want value in terms of price.’
At least we can be thankful that, according to the Telegraph, ‘Asda said it stocked only one line of eggs from caged birds, the economy Smart Price eggs, and there was no deadline to end that.’
The only thing for consumers to do is to buy free-range out and out, whether it’s eggs or meat, which is why Blagger has signed up to the Chicken Out campaign that aims to convert consumers to the benefits of less intensive farming.
You can do the same here.
It’s also time to start looking out for the RSPCA’s Freedom Food logo on the food we buy, which indicates that it was produced on farms inspected by the RSPCA and found to be in compliance with its strict higher standards. Full details can be found here.
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