TV chefs fly the animal welfare flag again

Animal welfare is about to take centre stage once more with celebrity chefs hosting TV programmes highlighting the conditions under which animals are reared.

It kicks off on tonight [January 26] when Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall highlights inconsistencies in the labelling of chickens in a programme on Channel 4 called 'Chickens, Hugh and Tesco Too'.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is also hosting a series of TV programmes about pig welfare under the banner 'Jamie saves our bacon', which starts on January 29 also on Channel 4.

According to Compassion in World Farming (CWF), higher welfare chicken sales have continued to soar, despite the economic downturn. But CWF also claimed that supermarket labelling of chicken was misleading and it is embarking on a new campaign to make labelling of higher welfare chicken clearer to boost sales further.

Between December 2007 and December 2008 free-range chicken sales alone grew by 35%, CWF claimed, following a survey it commissioned from retail analyst TNS.

The survey showed there was growth of 42% for higher welfare chicken meat (including higher welfare indoor systems). The results also showed that sales of standard fresh chicken had decreased steadily over the last year. In December 2008 consumption of standard chicken (by volume) dropped by 11% compared to the previous year.

Dr Lesley Lambert, director of research and food policy for CWF, said: “The TNS figures clearly show that consumers care about animal welfare and are ready to pay a little bit more for that, even during our difficult financial times.”

Lambert added: “However, 82% of fresh chicken meat still comes from chickens farmed indoors in intensive systems. Labels which sell factory farmed chickens disguised as ‘natural’ or ‘farm fresh’ products can trick consumers into buying poor welfare meat.

“Despite consumers’ determination to purchase higher welfare chicken, some major supermarkets are not keeping up. The reality is that most of the chicken meat sold in our supermarkets comes from chickens which are intensively reared.”

Meanwhile the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and BPEX, which represents British pig producers, are jointly running a campaign to seek better welfare labelling on pork products, particularly aiming to agree definitions for the terms ‘free-range’ - for which there is no legal definition for pork - ‘outdoor bred’ and ‘outdoor reared’ when they are applied to pigs and pig meat.

And last Friday the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) agreed to pursue state aid approval to allow it to support and promote the Red Tractor Logo (RTL).

The decision came following an industry consultation that showed an overall majority - but not across all sectors - in support of investing levy funds to help promote the Red Tractor Logo, which represents food produced to assured quality standards.

AHDB chairman, John Bridge, said: “Following our decision, there is a lot of detail to be sorted with AFS [Assured Food Standards], the NFU [National Farmers’ Union] and across our own sector divisions. One of the matters still to be ironed out is the nature of the contribution to be delivered from each sector.

“The state aid clearance process is expected to be completed by late 2009, which gives us time to get all this sorted.”