Published 03/10/2008

'Going cheap hurts chickens' we say again, as one of UK's biggest supermarkets drastically cuts prices on poultry. Although the credit crunch has resulted in shoppers watching the pennies, consumers are continuing to show they will pay the extra on the basis of animal welfare.

We are disgusted at this latest decision which shows that ASDA is not listening to consumer demand. This year has been a sea-change in consumer understanding of chicken production and a surge in demand for better welfare. ASDA is undermining consumer confidence by making the price gap between high and low welfare meat even bigger.

ASDA's decision to sell chicken for £2 comes after one of their competitors said that the credit crunch has not affected shoppers' desire for high welfare chicken. Research commissioned by Sainsbury's showed that nearly 40 per cent of shoppers said they are looking for ethically sourced products and only 8 per cent have stopped doing so because of the crisis.

Compassion in World Farming Director of Programmes John Callaghan said "Scientific research shows that many of the intensively reared birds are lame and likely to be in pain and live their lives in their own faeces. Consumers have shown they will vote with their wallets on the basis of animal welfare."

Research also shows that free-range chickens are significantly less fatty than chickens reared in intensive factory farms. Treating chickens with compassion by allowing them the freedom to roam, not only benefits the chickens, but it may help fight Britain's obesity crisis.

• Free-ranging behaviour has been shown to significantly reduce fat in chickens
• A typical supermarket chicken today contains proportionally 2.7 times as much fat as in 1970
• Organic chickens can contain 25% less fat than intensively reared chickens (standard chicken) That's 17.1g per 100g of fat for organic chicken, compared with 22.8g for intensive

Scientists say that free-range chickens offer a more beneficial fatty acid composition compared to indoor raised chickens. This is partially due to free-range chickens being slower-growing breeds, but also because they have room to exercise and spread their wings.

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