Following weeks of hype, the chicken welfare motion put before Tesco’s AGM by celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has been “decisively defeated”, the UK retailer said today (27 June).
“We’re delighted that more than nine out of ten of shareholders who cast a vote agreed with us that Hugh’s motion was unnecessary and chose not to support it,” a spokesperson for the group told just-food.
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Fearnley-Whittingstall had hoped to force Tesco to either withdraw claims that it supports animal welfare or adopt the minimum standards on chicken welfare supported by the RSPCA.
However, the UK retailer dismissed the celebrity chef’s accusations stating that while it works to ensure animal welfare it also provides affordable chicken to its customers.
“Tesco is working actively to improve animal welfare and to keep chicken affordable for all our customers – especially those who are struggling to balance the family budget in a time of rising household bills. Our shareholders have voted decisively to support this, and customers will continue to feel the benefit,” the spokesperson concluded.
Fearnley-Whittingstall’s resolution was defeated by a majority of 90.12% of votes cast. He has, however, suggested “votes withheld” were really in favour of his motion. Tesco dismissed this claim as “utter nonsense”.
Fearnley-Whittingstall also suggested that Tesco “brought out the big guns” to defeat his motion. Again, Tesco said this was “complete rubbish”.
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By GlobalData“It’s the shareholders that dictate what we do, not the other way round. Every vote at the AGM is a free vote,” the company concluded.
