'There's ranges of 'free-range', says Soil Association

The Soil Association (SA) has long been concerned with welfare standards, or lack of, in chicken production for years, and so it welcomes the campaigning efforts of celebrity chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver to improve overall standards.

While the SA accepts a general shift towards more 'free range' production would be a positive step, it highlights that there are degrees of 'free range', which may not match up to the consumer perception of the words.

For example, according to the SA, the RSPCA's Freedom Food standards allow 16,000 egg-laying birds per house. While this is an improvement on the 30-40,000 strong flocks of 'meat birds' in intensive farming, it's still significantly more in comparison to the SA's organic standards.

The SA recommend flock sizes of 500 - with absolute maximum flock sizes of 1,000 for meat birds and 2,000 for egg birds allowed only with special permission and additional management measures in place.

Other differences between an intensively farmed, free-range or organic chicken include the amount of daylight they see.