Back in 1950, roast chicken was a feast day treat and Britons ate, on average, less than a kilo of chicken a year. Now the meat is so cheap it's lost its novelty - smothered in sauces, tricked out with seasonings and covered in coatings. All those chicken dinners, curries, barbecue buckets and tikka-flavoured sandwich fillings add up. Britons now eat an average of 23kg of chicken each a year.
To satisfy our insatiable demand, around 840 million birds are reared in the UK each year. Most of the 16 million fresh chickens we buy from supermarkets each week are reared here, but many are imported. Most come from the EU but others are from Brazil and Thailand - these often end up in ready meals, nuggets and other processed forms.
The welfare state
All this cheap chicken comes at the expense of animal welfare. The factory farming conditions endured by most broiler chickens - reared for meat, not eggs - have been exposed most effectively by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver.
To keep us supplied with bargain birds, farmers pack up to 50,000 (and typically around 25,000) chicks into sheds, dimly lit to discourage movement and ensure they put on weight at an unnaturally fast rate. After reaching the required size twice as quickly as factory farmed chickens did just 30 years ago, the average intensively reared bird is ready for slaughter at 5-6 weeks old. By then there could be up to 19 birds per square metre.
Because the chickens have grown so quickly, their bones can be weak, joints can become infected and some have difficulty walking. Ammonia from the build-up of faeces and urine in the litter on which they sit can cause breast blisters and burns on their feet and legs. The tell-tale 'hock burn' and breast blisters are evidence of poor conditions.
Climate of change
Celebrity chefs, the RSPCA and other campaigners have been trying to persuade supermarkets not to sell chickens farmed to these most basic standards and encourage shoppers to spend more on higher-welfare birds.
As a result of their campaign, British shoppers have been buying a larger number of well-treated chickens than ever before. These are either free-range birds (organic chickens are by definition free-range too) or birds from indoor flocks reared to better standards equivalent to the RSPCA's Freedom Food label.
According to a survey carried out for Compassion in World Farming, sales of 'standard' chicken fell by 11 per cent in 2008. At the same time 35 per cent more free-range and organic birds were bought. Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and the Co-op now sell only higher-welfare chicken. Sales of these more fortunate birds rose by 42 per cent nationally in 2008. Overall the proportion of British chickens reared to better standards indoors or other free-range or organic standards has risen to around one in five, from only 4.5 per cent two years earlier.
What is higher-welfare poultry?
Millions more British chickens now live in better conditions, yet around 80 per cent don’t meet RSPCA standards. Instead, farms follow a voluntary Assured Chicken Production (ACP) code. The Red Tractor symbol offers a guarantee of the health of the flocks and food safety, and that chickens have been reared to a legal minimum standard.
However, the RSCPA believes that the ACP welfare standards are too low. Stocking densities, the Society claims, are unacceptably high and chickens are encouraged to gain weight as quickly as possible. According to Compassion in World Farming, Red Tractor standards meet only five out of its 13 animal welfare criteria. To qualify for the RSPCA's Freedom Food approval indoor-reared chickens must be a more active breed, have 25 per cent more space, brighter lighting, a better environment - with bales, perches and even footballs to play with - and live for longer than typical intensively reared birds.
Since the chicken welfare campaign took flight and shoppers started looking for the reassurance of a label, many farmers have converted to higher-welfare production. There were 25 per cent more Freedom Food approved chickens sold at the beginning of 2009 than at the end of 2007.
For better or for worse?
Until now, other than the most basic measures to prevent cruelty to farm animals, there have been no legal restrictions on how many birds can be packed into a given space (the stocking density). In June 2010, when a European directive comes into force, the welfare of chickens will finally be protected by law.
Chicken producers across Europe will be obliged to operate to the same basic standards, a move welcomed by British chicken farmers. The ACP code has already included improvements to lighting, but animal welfare organisations say the new rules will not improve conditions for chickens and could actually allow more overcrowding. Red Tractor chickens already have more space than the minimum required under the new rules. RSPCA senior scientific officer Dr Marc Cooper says, "it's a poor piece of legislation that will do very little to improve welfare for chickens".
Cheap chicken - at a price
While some supermarkets have moved away from standard chickens, others still compete to sell them more cheaply than their rivals. The price of a whole chicken has sunk as low as £2. Per kilo, chicken is still far cheaper than other meat, and in 2008 when food prices rose to an unprecedented high, poultry prices rose up by only half as much as those for beef and pork.
Margins are low for farmers producing chickens as cheaply as possible and the fluctuating cost of wheat, which accounts for 50 per cent of a broiler chicken's feed, makes it difficult to invest in changes to their chicken rearing systems. Even so, many chicken farmers have improved the environment for indoor chickens to meet customer demand.
What about free-range and organic?
Free-range chickens must have access to the outdoors for at least half their life and are grown more slowly, for slaughter at eight weeks old (10-11 weeks if they are organic), which means they don't suffer the problems that afflict the fastest-grown chickens.
Organic chickens are allowed to grow more slowly, are not given routine antibiotics or unnecessary medication, and are fed a diet of organically produced feed. All organic chickens are free-range, with more outside space than other free-range birds, and smaller flock sizes. Birds certified as organic by the Soil Association - 30 per cent of all organic chickens - will have been reared to the highest welfare standards.
However, buying free-range (and even sometimes organic) chicken is not always a guarantee of good welfare standards. This is because the stocking densities can be as high for free-range birds as for indoor-reared birds. They may not be able to get outside easily and space itself may be unsuitably exposed, for example. Though the indoor environment is equally important, no extra rules apply to that.
Freedom Food chickens are not necessarily free-range, and some chickens reared indoors may be better treated than their free-range counterparts. While most indoor broiler chickens are slaughtered at 35 days, Freedom Food birds will not reach the 2.2kg weight preferred for slaughter until 49 days - seven weeks. The best sheds have windows to give the chickens daylight, provide enough space for the birds to move freely and flap their wings, perching opportunities and a semi-organic diet.
Buying eggs
Thanks to EU regulations we have been able to choose whether to buy eggs from hens kept in cages, indoor barns where they can move freely or from free-range birds, with daytime access to outdoor runs whenever they want. This information has been given on egg boxes since 2004. Eighty-five per cent of UK eggs come stamped with the red 'Lion Quality' mark. The mark indicates that they're included in what is essentially a food-safety scheme (all Lion Quality eggs are from hens vaccinated against salmonella) but the scheme also sets higher standards of welfare than those required by law.
Sales of free-range eggs are soaring, and now account for 40 per cent of what we buy - up from 15 per cent ten years ago. While the UK has the largest number of free-range hens in Europe, demand for free-range eggs currently exceeds production. Yet more than half the eggs sold are laid by caged hens; four per cent are from barn hens.
The RSPCA will not give the Freedom Food label to eggs from caged hens, of which there are an estimated 19 million. Their laying lives are short - most are no use after a year - and miserable.
The worst cages were due to be phased out in Europe by 2012 and replaced with 'enriched' cages, with a small amount of extra space, but still not enough for birds to move around freely. Welfare lobbyists believe these are little better and would like all cages banned. Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and the Co-op have taken the decision to stop selling eggs from caged hens.
Even free-range laying hens usually have their beaks trimmed (a practice that will be banned in the UK from 2011) to prevent them from pecking each other. Most of the birds are kept in very large flocks. Freedom Food laying hens have larger areas to roam and don’t have their beaks trimmed. Organic laying hens are kept in smaller flocks than free-range are and have twice as much indoor space - and Soil Association hens have even more outdoor space. Their beaks are not trimmed, either.
Labelling
Here's what the various symbols and terms found on chickens and eggs mean:
Chicken
? The 'Red Tractor' symbol is part of a voluntary scheme. Birds with the symbol meet assurance standards, guaranteeing the health of the flocks and food safety. Red Tractor chickens have been reared to a minimum welfare standard. These are conditions for 'standard' chickens and already exceed the EU welfare rules being introduced in 2012.
? 'Extensive indoor' or 'barn-reared': these chickens mustn't be packed more than 15 to a square metre of living space (and not more than 25kg/sq m in combined weight); they shouldn't be slaughtered before they are 56 days old.
? 'Free-range': the maximum indoor stocking density is 13 birds per square metre (and not more than 27.5kg/sq m); in addition, each bird, for at least half its life, should have continuous daytime access to open-air runs with a maximum density of one bird per square metre.
? 'Traditional free-range': the maximum indoor stocking density is 12 birds per square metre (and not more than 25kg/sq m); continuous daytime access to open-air runs should be given from the age of six weeks, and these runs should allow at least 2sq m per chicken; poultry houses shouldn't contain more than 4,800 chickens. Slow-growing varieties of chicken should be used, with a minimum slaughter age of 81 days.
? 'Free-range - Total Freedom': in addition to the criteria for 'traditional free-range' chickens, these birds should have open-air runs of unlimited area.
? 'Organic' chickens are free-range and slower grown. They are slaughtered at 81 days, given organic feed and no routine antibiotics. They are kept in smaller flocks, with more space to move about inside and out.
? Freedom Food is the scheme for animals reared to the RSPCA's welfare standards. Chickens are more slowly grown and stocking densities are lower, though they are not necessarily free-range birds.
Eggs
? 'Farm fresh' is a meaningless description. The eggs could have been laid by chickens farmed in battery cages. Boxes must state whether eggs were laid by caged hens.
? 'Barn eggs' come from hens kept indoors in sheds, with no more than nine birds per square metre. Perches must be provided and other environmental conditions met. They can be Freedom Food approved.
? 'Free-range' egg production provides chickens with daytime access to runs covered with vegetation, with a maximum 2,500 birds per hectare.
? 'Organic' eggs are from chickens with more privileges than free-range and are produced according to EU laws on organic production. Growth promoters, artificial pesticides, fungicides, herbicides and commercial fertilisers cannot be used in the feed for organic production.
? The 'Lion Quality' mark on the shell of eggs is a guarantee that the eggs were produced to higher standards than required by UK or EU law. All Lion Quality-marked eggs have complete traceability, a 'Best Before' date on the shell and compulsory vaccination of the laying flock against salmonella.
? Freedom Food eggs meet the RSPCA's animal welfare standards. Battery hens do not meet the standard - only barn or free-range eggs qualify for this label.
Taken from the BBC News - February 09