Could hens get orchard ban?

It's the image that for generations has been associated with free range eggs. The sight of hens wandering freely under orchard trees beneath ripening crops of apple, plum and damsons.

But could this idyllic scene about to become a thing of the past? Reports suggest that the Food Standards Agency is considering new rules which could prevent poultry and any other livestock wandering freely in orchards where fruit is to be grown for human consumption.

The notion arises from an FSA consultation process centring around the risks of fresh fruit and vegetables being contaminated by manure. As there are around 10 cases of food poisoning related to fruit and veg a year in Britain the risk has been described in national press reports as "miniscule" and the proposed restrictions as "red tape gone mad".

But the FSA remains vague about its intentions. What is clear is that it has been holding talks with bodies including the NFU and the Soil Association into the issues relating to muck and food.

"Concern has been raised about the issue of livestock in orchards," an FSA spokesperson told the Ranger, "but that is not really where this project began. The kind of thing we have been considering is how to avoid slurry spreading contaminating growing fruit. "Hens would not come into contact with a fruit crop unless of course they flew up into the branches. Could you clip their wings to prevent that?"

FSA decisions on the issue are to be announced next month.