Hugh’s Chicken Run - Industry Reaction
The post here on The Foodie List highlighting Hugh’s campaign and the related TV programs have received 100 comments. This is not even the official site so surely demonstrates the passionate views held by many.
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) and the British Poultry Council (BPC) have responded by stating poultry producers are fed up with myths and misconceptions and stress that animal welfare is the top priority for poultry producers. The birds are their most valuable assets and that low prices on supermarket shelves did not mean low welfare on farms.
They say, “It’s disappointing that once again the British media is referring to chickens reared for meat as ‘battery’ farmed. This is completely untrue and our members who look after the national flock are fed up to the back teeth of hearing it repeated. Chickens reared for meat in Britain are kept indoors or are free range - they are never kept in battery cages.”
The NFU have a page dedicated to the issue where they state that
“we do not accept that the welfare standards applied in the UK to ‘conventional’ egg and poultry production are in any way unacceptable. There are millions of consumers for whom the price of food is a key issue, and modern production techniques for poultry meat and eggs makes food available to people at an affordable price without involving an unacceptable compromise in terms of bird welfare.
There is a very real danger that the current spate of attacks on conventional poultry and egg production could compound the economic difficulties of the industry, accelerate the threatened decline in production and lead to more imports. If so, it will be highly counter-productive, as welfare standards in the UK are higher than in any of our major overseas suppliers. We would be exporting the chicken industry and importing lower welfare product.
[Image from the British Poultry Council]
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Comments
free range chicken doesn’t cost alot more than cheap chicken we keep chickens and they are no different to cheap chickens maybe 10p more
we have chickens at home and ours are no cheaper as is the case for many people. i dont see why people allways presume that we buy chickens cheaply but 9 times out of 10 thats not true!
p.s hi jake payter-hanby i no who u r !!!
CHICKENS ROCK!!!
Dont eat them. It’s cruel. Pro-veggie 
DON’T EAT MEAT!! OH YEAH!
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Ps. Hi Jake ! I Know you toooooooooooo!
i too am veggie like Moira and i dont think people should eat chickens but those people who do sell them should make sure dat the chickens are kept free and happy. if you do think first about the chickens then you shouldnt have to pay more for them it should be the other way around!!!
Thank you James. I used to have chickens, only three or four, but we still had them. We got eggs from them every day and they tasted even better because I knew where they came from (kind of eww). I would recommend keeping chickens to anyone with a garden, it doesn’t take much, just feed them in twice a day, once in the morning, once at night.
by michael Stewart on January 20, 2008 @ 7:26 pm
Moypark example 1.5 million chickens a week they need at lest 8 million chickens on the the ground at once IF YOU DID HOW ARE YOU GOING TO ROUND UP 8 MILLION CHICKENS!!!!. The recommed for free rangers is 1 meter per chicken where are you going to put all of them!Also the price for rising them would double.It takes for a 1400g bird to grow in boiler live is 42 days and free range its 60 appox. So you would need another 1.4 million chickens plus the 8 million.WHOS GOING TO PAY THE PRICE!!!!!! THE QUEEN