Feature:
Quash the Squash
August 2009
A backward step for chicken welfare prevented!
A huge thank you goes out to the 11,000 people who took part in the Quash the Squash campaign to email Mr Jim Fitzpatrick, the Minister for animal welfare, about the new law protecting chickens in England.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has made its decision on how to transpose the new EU legislation into English law and have opted not to include the highest stocking density that the European legislation allows for (approximately 21 birds per square metre). A backward step for chicken welfare has been prevented. However the law could have gone further.
We now have a legal line in the sand which is good news, but the stocking density of approximately 19 birds per square metre is still higher than the maximum the RSPCA would recommend. Plus the new law doesn’t tackle the high level of leg and heart disorders suffered by chickens reared for meat.
If you want to be sure that the chicken you eat has been reared to higher welfare standards always choose Freedom Food, free range or organic chicken at the supermarket. And don’t forget to check when eating out too!
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