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Tesco introduces £1.99 chicken

Published: Wednesday, 6 February 2008, 11:50AM

Tesco has introduced a £1.99 chicken as the latest Government research shows more than a quarter of broiler chickens have difficulty walking.

Celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recently highlighted the welfare of broiler chickens which make up 95 per cent of all the chicken meat eaten in the UK.

And now a Defra study of 51,000 birds within 176 flocks belonging to five major UK producers, revealed that at an average of 40 days, 27.6 per cent showed "poor locomotion" and 3.3 per cent were almost unable to walk. The figures come despite regular culling of flocks.

Dr Toby Knowles, of Bristol University's Division of Food Animal Science, said: "The welfare implications of this study are profound. Worldwide approximately 20 billion broilers are reared within similar husbandry systems that are biased towards economics of production and detrimental to poultry welfare."

On Tuesday Tesco slashed the price of a whole chicken to £1.99 until Sunday in a bid to help families on tight budgets, adding that it had doubled its order for higher-welfare chicken.

Dr Lesley Lambert, Compassion In World Farming's director of research and education, said: "£1.99 doesn't reflect the real price of producing a chicken. At the moment, farmers make only 2p per chicken, so this will push them to the limit."

Jonathan Church, a company spokesman, said: "We have been working hard for a while to increase the amount of higher-welfare chicken we sell and the recent debate in the media about chickens has helped raise awareness of the choice available.

"But our investment in premium chicken should not be seen as a move away from providing more affordable options. No one should feel guilty for buying a chicken just because it is good value. The only reduction we make is in the price, not the welfare."

Asda introduced a £2 chicken last year.

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