Celebrity chef, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Compassion in World Farming took the high profile Chicken Out! campaign to the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to expose the Government’s plan of increasing the number of birds that will be forced into overcrowded chicken sheds from 2010.
Despite growing public concern over the link between poor animal welfare and human health - reflected in a 42 per cent increase in sales of higher welfare chicken from 2007 to 2008 - the UK Government is finalising plans to allow even more overcrowding, with a staggering increase of up to 24 per cent from its previous recommended standards.
This is the equivalent of adding more than 11,500 extra chickens into a large shed that already holds 50,000 chickens, or allowing up to 21 birds to be crammed into one square metre. Each chicken will have up to a fifth less floor space than an A4 sheet of paper – even less than the tiny amount of living space a battery hen currently has to endure.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, called on the Minister for Farming and the Environment, Jane Kennedy MP’s to exclude this huge increase from UK legislation. The celebrity chef delivered his animal welfare message to Mr Dan Skerten, Jane Kennedy’s Private Secretary, in the form of a giant postcard signed on behalf of the 159,613 Chicken Out! supporters, 216 MPs who signed the Early Day Motion 581 on chicken welfare and Compassion in World Farming.
Lasse Bruun, Head of Campaigns, Compassion in World Farming, said: "The Government’s proposals, if enacted, would undermine the most basic principles of animal welfare. Intensively farmed chickens are already suffering from lack of space, lameness, weak legs and lung failure, yet this proposal will only make the situation worse and goes entirely against the public’s demand for higher animal welfare."
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall said: "People have become increasingly concerned about the welfare conditions that their food has been raised in. Consumers, especially those on tight budgets, rely on the Government to ensure that the food they have access to is of an acceptable ethical standard. The Government’s proposal to reduce welfare standards is not only wrong but ignores this increasing public opinion and most importantly, ignores public interest."
Mike Hancock MP, sponsor of Early Day Motion 581, said: "Stocking densities up to 21 chickens per square metre are simply not acceptable. The British Government should outlaw such extreme densities in this country. It is clear from the soaring sales of higher welfare chickens that the British public want to see better farming conditions for chickens. Compassion in World Farming and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall are to be congratulated on their campaign against this extreme overcrowding."
