Top UK supermarkets are selling consumers chickens that have been reared in conditions that contravene government guidelines.
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According to media reports on a survey carried out for Compassion in World Farming, nearly all the major UK supermarkets are guilty of selling broiler chickens reared in space only the size of an A4 piece of paper, which is smaller than that set out in government guidelines. Gary Reece, from Compassion in World Farming, said: “That is almost the same as battery hens and is not acceptable.”
The worst offenders are reported to include Sainsbury’s, Iceland and Morrisons. Only Marks & Spencer, named Compassionate Supermarket of the Year, did not buy chicken reared in such small spaces.
The CIWF survey also reported that Sainsbury’s sells a small amount of milk from cows kept permanently indoors and allows its poultry to travel for up to 12 hours at a time to slaughter. M&S stocks only free-range eggs while Tesco and Safeway source more than half of their eggs from free-range and organic farms, reported the Evening Standard.
