|
| Sales of free-range chicken up 50% after chefs� crusade |
|
|
| 22/01/08 |
|
RECORD sales of organic and free-range chicken have been prompted by two celebrity chefs.
Stores report a huge surge in demand after the start of separate shows by Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
Both investigate conditions in which battery-farmed chickens are kept.
The hit programmes � Jamie�s Fowl Dinners and Hugh�s Chicken Run � have led to a massive reaction from shoppers.
Sainsbury�s said yesterday that sales of free-range, organic, and chicken adhering to the RSPCA�s Freedom Food scheme had soared a record 50 per cent.
But despite disturbing images in the programmes, shoppers are refusing to ditch intensively-reared chicken completely.
"Sales of organic chicken have gone up but so have Basics, our value line," said a Sainsbury�s spokeswoman.
Waitrose saw sales of organic chicken jump 31 per cent in the second week of January while demand for free-range meat was up 24 per cent. Branches ran out of free-range chicken thighs last week.
The chain insists it does not stock what is widely considered to be intensively-reared chicken. Sales of its cheapest chicken, from the Select Farm range, were also up, albeit by a modest one per cent.
A Waitrose spokeswoman said: "The publicity is certainly a factor but this is a time of year when people are trying to eat healthily, which is why more people buy chicken." The growth in sales is not only restricted to the big supermarket chains.
Steve Merritt, founder of S&J Organics, a Welsh company that sells organic chicken direct to customers, said orders had risen by between 40 and 50 per cent in the past week.
"We have had a lot of people ringing up with orders," said Mr Merritt. "There has been a lot of interest.
"It just goes to show what a difference a television programme can make."
Jamie�s Fowl Dinners highlights the welfare implications for chickens reared to satisfy demand for cheap food. Some supermarkets sell whole birds for as little as £2.
Some 95 per cent of meat chickens and 63 per cent of egg-laying hens in Britain are intensively farmed in this country.
In his three-part series, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall set up two poultry units, one intensive, the other free-range.
Both chefs were praised by a top animal expert for their programmes. Dr Julia Wrathall, head of the farm animals department at the RSPCA Science Group, told trade magazine The Grocer: "When it comes to the chickens we eat in Britain I am beginning to think we may be on the verge of a revolution."
She added: "Recent programmes presented by Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have helped to turn the media spotlight on to these animals."
Jamie Oliver sparked controversy before his new TV series even started when he criticised Sainsbury�s with whom he has a £1.2million contract.
The Naked Chef condemned the company, along with Asda, Tesco and Morrisons, for refusing to take part in a debate about the poultry industry.
Sainsbury�s reacted by writing to millions of customers championing its animal welfare credentials. Chicken is Britain�s most popular meat, with 855million birds being produced in the UK every year. We eat 12 times as much chicken as we did 30 years ago.
 |
 Show me all news |
|
 |
|
 |
|
