I would encourage everyone to refrain from consuming animal products as far as possible. For some of us, this will mean becoming a vegan. For others, it will merely mean cutting down on meat consumption. The important thing to remember is that every time you choose not to purchase meat, eggs, milk, or other animal products, you are reducing animal suffering.

Leave hunting alone as this is the area that needs to change, but as with pigs it no good just improving things in Britain. We have the best welfare for pigs in the world, but then allow imports of pork that does not conform, its cheeper and is totaly unfair to our pig farmers.

I agree that we must do everything possible to reduce the suffering of all animals. Each one of us can start demanding food animal products that have been raised humanely as a way to start pushing the industry to change. However a law banning the farming of battery chickens would be the ultimate solution. I am a vegetarian (although not vegan) and you could give it a try, it really isn't that bad!

Unfortunately, you do not help your article by the incorrect use of the phrase 'battery chicken'. A 'battery' is cage system designed to house laying hens in egg production. It is completely unrelated to the form of meat production that you describe.

Once again the media is waking up to this appalling issue. British Poultry Council's Peter Bradnock is correct when he says "The people who are producing these chickens are producing them to what the market wants." The "market" clearly wants cheap meat so that's what the market gets but at a very high price for the bird. Answer? - let's try and change the "market".
If you buy chicken please buy an organic one if you can afford it - the meat tastes better as well. If we all try to do that the price will fall and this despicable practice will eventually disappear.
A chicken in its natural habitat enjoys space, light and grass - 3 things clearly low in priority for the mass producers. This government acted swiftly on behalf of a few thousand foxes so why won't they clean up this shameful industry where numbers are much higher?

For many years now, I have been buying chicken through a small local producer, and our family eats more chicken than any other type of meat (lower impact on the environment).
When I see films like this one (and I already knew what was going on in the meat industry) it makes me wonder about where we are heading collectively as a species. Without giving in to any undue sentimentality, if we and ours can treat living and sentient beings in this way, doesn't our behavior lead to a form of brutalisation that encourages our aggression/indifference toward our own fellow man ?
Isn't our increasing urbanisation leading us to live in the same alienated way that these poor animals are, totally cut off from our natural environment ?

Finally we have a film on an English chicken meat producer. If people really want to see the situation in England and in some other countries they should view the Austrian produced film "We feed the world" which looks at the situation with regard to "meat" production - not only the conditions of the animals but also what happens to them on their way to the table. It is not so brutally shocking as the the French film called, if I remember rightly, "La Vie des Bêtes" (The life of Animals) shown by the British Film Institute in London in the 1950s. About one-third of the viewers left within 20 minutes. It seems to take a long time for the penny to drop, it always does when its money, money, money. But it is not only chickens: what about other animals, including fish? Is it not time that meat, including fish, gave on the packet an indication of the levels of man-made chemicals in the flesh.............. and, why not, how much profit is made by each link in the chain to the consumer?

My grandmother raised chickens because she was a country woman who liked to have fresh eggs. Her chickens had a large pen and sheltered housing and lived long and contented lives scratching up the dirt and doing things chickens like do do. All five of them had names and I remember one, in particular, Betty, who would sometimes hop onto my grandmother's back when she was bent over preparing the chicken's food. Their lives ended only when they were all killed by a fox, yet my grandmother remained staunch foe of fox hunting. I contrast this with the miserably short, desperate lives of factory farmed chickens raised in filth, genetically modified to grow too large to be supported by their legs, with only profit in the minds of their producers, for whom they are only widgets, not sentient beings, an item developed only to ensure profitability, and whose suffering, pain, and grotesque development in such a short period of time is in itself an indictment of factory farming. I don't eat much chicken myself, but my dog is fed chicken and I make sure it is organic and free range so that some other poor creature doesn't suffer too much in order to feed my dog.

"Organic birds are allowed to roam free and have perches and other chances to exhibit natural behaviour. However they are three times more expensive than standard chickens."

Well isn't THAT noble of us? Dave I completely agree with you. I believe there will never be peace in the world while we continue to slaughter and treat animals this way.

If you you wish to eat meat, go to a slaughter house, take your children there.. make it a school trip.. it's just where your 'food' comes from.. Why not go?

We do not need it, I have never eaten meat or fish and I am healthy, attractive and fit. We do not need it, so why cause so much fear, brutality and death?

We used to keep chickens.. for eggs and as pets.. They would run from far away when we called them..and follow us around.. and crouch down puffing their wings out so we could pick them up.. huddle into each other for comfort.. They are animals with a right to be on this earth as much as we do. Live and let live.

These conditions are appalling, adn not unique, as they always have been, just like those endured by the hapless animals involved in experimentation. If the doors to these companies were open to objective and unexpected inspection, things might change. Gandhi always said that a nation can be judged by the way it treats its animals. Our way is very little different from the horrors of abbatoirs and breeding stations in so many other countries. It is generally agreed that those humans who torture and murder other humans often begin with doing so to animals.

Why has this taken so long to come to public awareness? Where have the media been for so long?
There have been scandals about battery hens since the 1960s.
Yet again, "value for money" is the real cause of this misery. Supermarkets are partly to blame for promoting our increased consumption of cheap meat - in their interests, of course, NOT OURS!
There is a lot of research already available, and much to be done, on the health risks we face eating meat from distressed beings.
Haven't we already seen the pitiful state of pigs being bred en masse and taken in inhumane conditions to the "abattoir" (just a French word meaning "killing place", a euphemism for "slaughterhouse")?
Are we still doing anything about the transport of live animals across Europe?
The UK is one of a few countries (occasionally) concerned about animal welfare. But who checks what goes on in those other (EU) countries?

We really must review our thinking about our fellow creatures. There have been too many abuses, diseases and blatant profiteering, the greed of a few succeeds against the ignorance or uninformedness of the many.
Do you REALLY care about suffering, not only human but also animal, in this world?

The cruelty on the production of meat products is one of the best examples of the bad effects of the marketing doctrine of give the consumers what they want, sometimes called consumer choice. The assertions of the Poultry Industry spokespeople that they care about welfare illustrates just how much the Industry is purblind about this.
I have been vegan for 25 years and many friends speak to me about this choice, especially when I treat them to my Chocolate Sponge Cake. Three things are universal in their comments. Their lack of knowledge about the production of meat, their justification for eating meat being they like it and their great blindness to the variety, colour and taste of vegan food. Less friendly comments come about "rabbit" food, not "Gorilla or Elephant" food I notice. Universal is the wonderment about cooking a vegan, or vegetarian meal, its assumed expense (its is usually cheaper), and the illinformed question|: where do you get your protein.
Satisfying a consumer that is ignorant of the product, lacking simple culinary skills and with an habitual propensity for a product is one of the successes and the failures of Marketing in the modern world. Helping the producers of meat see the failure, the wrongness, is probably harder than helping consumers of meat see the error of their ways.
I hope that the fact that meat production is now seen as one of the major causes of climate change will give a large stimulus to the change in consumers' knowledge and choices that is needed.

Well done for publishing this.

No meat should be sold cheaply as it costs the life of an animal.

The British Poultry Council's comments are almost laughable.
This is by no means the only film evidence that shows that intensive farming IS dark brutal and uncaring!

It's interesting to note though that they themselves say that birds are not necessarily better off in free range or organic systems!

Anyone who cares at all is already fully aware of the conditions in which animals are bred for meat in this country. This isn't news, nor is it new. It's been highlighted over and over again. But nothing changes... because market forces dictate. The people who pick up plastic chickens in supermarkets see only the price tag - they're not interested in the reality of how the packaged product came to be there.

The meat industry in this country is an obscenity. Small organic producers may be doing their bit to try to change things, but frankly, they're spitting into an insurmountable wind. Supermarkets, with their many and gross distortions, rule. And until the political will is there to challenge them, (some hopes!) they will continue doing so.

I watched a program at University in 1992 about this very issue and its even worse for turkeys and some cattle. Back then it was 550 million broilers, now it is 850 million of them. Just the same old same old at the end of the day. Nothing changes and nothing will because the vast majority of people do not read the Independent for one, do not care for another and wabt food as cheap as possible because capatalism dictates it because wages are skewed and winners (company owners) take all.

The name of the game is profits above all else. Now with the cost of traditional feed sky rocketing thanks to George W. Bush's another ill fated scheme of using corn to produce bio fuel (ethanol) production, the matters will get worst.

Free range only means that now thousand and thousands of chicken are not in battery cages but packed together in minimum space. All that is needed is to have some country western Chicken cow boy comes out with a chicken line dance.

The further complicating issue is lack of enough so called undocumented Mexican Labor. The end result will be even more expensive chicken and the worst quality.

this seems tobe an issue that re-surfaces every now and then however i question the importance of this issue.broiler chickens serve a common market.the majority of people cannot afford organic goods.broiler chickens are meaty and cheap i think that is near genius.this is animal welfare surely going too far.the conditions that these chickens are bred in maybe they are not perfect but people are being infected with any type of food poisoning so i ask what is the problem?

Ten years ago I cycled past a well concealed acreage of massive farm buildings that housed thousands of birds in Suffolk. The smell revealed all. I resolved at the time that I would never knowingly eat battery produced poultry again. The horrors and cruelty of the mass production of chickens were also revealed recently by Marina Lewyeka in her novel "Two Caravans". I simply don't understand why consumers are not waking up. Do we call ourselves a civilised society? Are there no regulatory bodies willing to take this on? This campaign should provide the catalyst needed to get things moving.

I agree with many of the comments already posted and am astonished that the industry actually thinks that people condone this kind of activity because they are more concerned about the price of chicken than the conditions of its production. If industry was more transparent about the conditions of its production, and consumers paid more attnetion, then consumers would have a more informed choice about what chickens to buy and from whom. I just hope that those who would then buy chicken do so considering the conditions in which they are raised, sending a strong market signal to the industry farms that animal abuse doesn't pay, which I unfortunately think is the only way to make changes in businesses given the current market structure. So when you buy something, realise that you are also making ethical and political choices that send signals to those who produce those products. Maybe if more of us buy ethically (whether buying 'happy chickens' or no meat at all) we will start to see a change in how those animals (or land for that matter) are treated. And maybe this type of behaviour will encourage governments to improve legislation protecting animals from abuse and suffering.

Some of the comments here are contradictory.It seems that some people here are willing to eat meat provided that it is "reared" and "slaughtered" humanely.
This is a major bit of modern doublethink.C'mon people you are either FOR or AGAINST the murder of animals.You simply DON'T eat meat or you DO.And quite frankly if you DO eat meat then I am afraid that your comments concerning animal welfare are hollow.
The problem is in the education system.I firmly believe that if a child leaves school eating meat and believing in a god then that child hasn't been educated.
Meat eating is barbaric and is the cause of most major illness's heart disease,cancer strokes the list is endless.
Ghandi said that you judge a nation by the way it treats it's animals,what a profound message,we should all take that on board and educate our children to stop this daily mass slaughter.

James Hughes

Broiler growers are making up to 4p per bird profit.This is the same amount they were getting 20 years ago.In that time look at how much the cost of production has risen, water gas and electricity all up, shavings up, labour up, chick prices up and feed up 50% in the last 6 months alone. Until the supermarkets raise the retail price significantly so that the gap between these birds and free range is reduced to the point where free range becomes an attractive option, then the consumer will continue to buy broilers.Producers cannot invest in free range or organic systems or reduce stocking densities in their current broiler flocks until they get the money back to into them. In a recent survey a quarter of poultry farmers said they were quitting the industry in the next 5 years.These are small family businesses who will be replaced by the large producers in this country, and by imports from abroad whose welfare standards British consumers have no control over whatsoever.Instead of kicking the farmer why don't you go kick the supermarket buyers for a change, they are the ONLY people who can influence what consumers buy in their stores.

Peter Bradnock says "The people who are producing these chickens are producing them to what the market wants."
Who, exactly did he consult?

The majority of comments posted are in support of improving conditions for broiler chickens and the general public are clearly aware of the abusive practices of this industry. So why do so many turn a blind eye at the point of sale in the supermarket? Perhaps viewing the footage will drive the message home to consumers.

We rescued/re-homed 4 ex battery chickens in October. They were in a terrible state but are now living a happy, healthy life in our garden. They are intelligent, resilient creatures and are terribly exploited both in the egg and meat industries.

The government and various animal agencies could and should do so much more to prevent the unspeakable suffering these poor creatures endure.

Ultimately though, it's the consumer who can REALLY make the difference by buying free range and organic meat products. They're not vastly more expensive, a few more pence for free range eggs.

If you buy cheap eggs and meat, it's the animals that pay the price. The consumer is the one who can put an end to this once and for all!

As other people have commented, if animal suffering appalls you, then don't eat meat. Yes, it really is that simple.

I suppose I've been vaguely aware of the cruelty suffered by battery chickens in the past, but having read this article I think it's pricked my conscience enough to switch to organic or free range chicken in future. If films of commercial meat production methods were released I'm sure it would help change buyers habits, and perhaps wean some people off meat altogether.

The British media is not usally helpful when it comes to educating the public on animal welfare and healthy eating so well done The Independent. As a vegetarian i am sick to death of the daily meat eating chef recipe programs on the major TV channels as there are few vegetarian cooking recipes .We are told weekly about the country's obesity problem but little education about remedy, one suspects the meat industry is behind all the adverts which we have to endure over the christmas period .Untill humans move away from capitalisms greed and exploitation for profit people and animals will continue to suffer.

How about just not eating them? It really isn't that difficult.

And to those comments defending farmers - why on earth should they be allowed to inflict such cruelty and torture to animals when if anyone else was to treat a pet like that, they'd be put in prison.

Although these conditions are worse than awful, even seeing the video will not change the majority of the populations eating habits. Most of us could not afford the cost of organic chicken and for those people who'd like to see everyone stop eating meat, that's never going to happen (and I'll gladly take my child to an abattoir, I'd even let them kill the chicken themselves).

This realy sickens me to think how these poor chickens are tret in their short lives. I eat chicken as I don't eat other red meats.
But if I bought organic, how can I be sure that it is organic?

The issue of "Cost" for organic meats is, for most of the middle class, less of an issue than the realize. The real "cost" applies to time and effort in lifestyles. Meat dishes are easier to cook and more common, so we have been demanding more of them.

Here is a solution: grow your own veggies or at least some and can them, or buy from a CSA. Then spend the excess cash you saved on organic meats. They cost about twice as much now, but as we have seen with other organic products, the more demand their is, the more pressure we all put on the global market to change their view of how food can be raised.

It's not the producers fault, it's driven by the market and the market is dominated by the supermarkets, the only way they will change is through consumer demand, make them change and sign up to the chickenout campaign at www.chickenout.tv

Firstly, please let us not turn against each other in a veggie-v-meat eater fight. I have been Vegetarian for 14 years now and whilst I have never looked back, I appreciate some people will never give up their love of meat.

For me, the *only* thing I liked about meat (or fish) was the taste. Aside from that, everything else about the two industries were appalling, so I gave them up.

An Italian friend of ours, a prominent food critic over there, tells us that one of the problems in Britain is that we eat cheap poor quality meat every day i.e. processed sausages, bacon etc. According to him it is far better to eat better quality meat, but less often (i.e. 3-4 times a week). Walking past my local McDonald's this morning shows that this 'aint happening any time soon in the UK.

Not withstanding the detrimental long term health implications of a red-meat and cholestrol rich diet, the devastating environmental impact of the meat and fishing industries surely mean that if you care about the planet or it's ecosystem you would give up (non-Organic) meat and fish immediately. (Even better, become a Vegetarian but that's just my opinion!)

If you claim to care about the planet and sustainability but are happy buying mass produced meat or fish down the local supermarket, then you my friend have a contradictory attitude.

I'm not a broiler farmer, I used to be 20 years ago until Edwina Currie knocked 75% off the value of my business overnight.How would you like 75% wiped off the value of your assets by someone you have no control over? That is what could happen again if the population develop a kneejerk reaction to this article similar to the reaction to Bernard Matthews over AI.The big producers will get through it they always do, its the little guys who will suffer. I object to the inference that farmers set out to cause cruelty and torture their livestock, what sheer ignorant rubbish! The customer, usually the supermarket, dictates the price to the processor that they are willing to pay for chicken. Most supermarkets know the cost of producing these birds and set their price at or just below the cost of producing them.The processor takes his slice and passes on the pittance left over to the grower.The grower has to do as the processor says or they don't have contract ergo no income.If it costs £2,000,000 + interest to build a farm holding 500,000 birds, and the grower has 6 flocks per year which at best make 4p per bird profit it takes over 17 years simply to pay for the farm without taking anything out for reinvestment or diversification. There is no incentive for growers to a. lower stocking densities b. slow the growth rate down or c. find the money to build farms for free range or organic.

If you own a decent car would you consider filling up with the wrong grade or with inferior fuel? So why consider eating cheap low grade food lacking in taste texture and nourishment?

The sheer pleasure of eating decent food (not nessesarily the most expensive) round the Family table is Communion in the truest sense, good for Hugh F.W. in championing the cause.

We don't own the Earth, being only rather second rate custodians,lack of care and respect for animals,plants and the environment will surely come back to haunt us.

Wesley Williams: It would not be a question of "letting" your child kill a chicken for it is not a 'natural' urge is it?
A natural urge to kill would be quite worrying wouldn't you say?
Instructing your child to kill is another matter. And again, worrying.

Of the 95% of consumers who eat 850 million chickens per annum none of them could reasonably be concerned whether the 850 million chickens are allowed to run around any farmyard or flap their wings or pick grass during their very brief six week lifespan knowing that they are provided with water and feed round the clock; that the health, weight and saleability of every chicken is vital to the farmer's finance and therefore he would not knowingly cause any chicken to physically suffer; that the chickens are reared exclusively to produce meat over a six week lifespan specifically for the table; that like people who were born blind and have no experience of the beauty of nature, the chickens have no experience of life on a farmyard and not being sentient they could not know or care about what they are missing out on; that there are one and a half million children who live in poverty but many of whom at least are able to eat cheap broiler chickens; such children would not be able to eat the vastly expensive chickens grown organically whose meat could not have been enhanced in quantity or quality and which are reared only for the benefit of the chosen lifestyle of paranoid and affluent people and especially and ultimately for the benefit of birds which have more pests and insects and weeds to feed on.

Farmers may well not 'set out' to cause cruelty and torture their livestock - but this is what happens. Are you really suggesting that animals involved in meat production do not suffer?

That's capitalism!

The way we farm birds in this country is appalling, few people realise but ducks are also farmed in this manner in the UK. However the market is consumer driven, if people want cheap meat corners are cut and enormous suffering is the result. Organic meat improves welfare but is requires far more land. To switch the UKs current chicken production to a fully organic system we would need an extra 300,000 square miles, where is this extra land going to come from if we don’t reduce our meat consumption?
Meat and dairy production is resource intensive and the second biggest cause of climate change, ahead of transport which ranks as the third biggest cause (see the UN report “Livestock’s Long Shadow”). Climate unfriendly foods should be heavily taxed (rather than subsidised) meaning meat and dairy would be expensive luxuries. Legislation should ban the factory farming of any animal. Plant based diets which are healthier should be encouraged and cookery programs should make tasty nutritious vegan dishes the staples of their shows instead of limiting the vegan option to some sort of side salad. With such measures in place we would then make significant gains in tacking both the climate and obesity crisis simultaneously.

Ok, fine. So you posted this article about the appaling lives of chickens.
But what will you do about it?
Go home tonight and have a roast dinner?
Or will you actually HELP to end this suffering, rather than just making people see this and think, oh that's terrible, and skip ahead to other articles?!

Activism - It's not just for hippies anymore.

I find it incomprehensible that people still plead ignorance on this issue. I saw a Channel 4 programme on intensively reared animals in the early 80's and have been vegetarian ever since. I do, however, cook meat for my husband and children. I would never use anything other than free range meat, eggs etc. and would rather go without or less than buy intensively farmed meat.
I now have three chickens which I keep in my tiny urban garden. They are funny, intelligent animals. They each have a personality, come running when called and reward me with fantastic eggs every day. A hunderd times more tasty than anything the supermarket has to offer.
There really are no excuses anymore. If you think you cannot afford free range meat, just take a look at all the rubbish (coke, crisps, buscuits etc) in your shopping basket. Cut out a few of these items and spend it on something more nutritious.
If we all stopped buying intensively farmed produce, the producers would have to sit up and listen. Vote with your purse.

Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall condemn the welfare conditions for battery chickens but both laud shot game birds as healthy and ethical food. Pheasants and partridge in the UK are not wild, free range and natural but artificially fed and bred before a short release in similarly despicable battery-cage conditions.

As a vegetarian and a member of Compassion In World Farming, I have benn acutely aware of how most chicken is produced in this country. I find it utterly depressing. I understand people will always want to eat meat, and much as I would wish it, the whole population will never become vegetarian. However, it is typical of the selfish consumerism driven times we live in that we consider paying more than £3.00 for a whole chicken "expensive". We want to eat chickens, but are not prepared to let these sentient creatures have the basic pleasure of sratching in grass or feeling the sun on their backs . In their short miserable lives they do not even see daylight. I wonder how we have become so removed from what is right and fair, and simply are motivated by cheapness. With total disregard for the fact that this is the food we consume to keep us fit and healthy ! A chicken used to be a good family roast on Sunday, cold cuts on Monday, meat for sandwiches, a pie or curry and the carcass boiled up for soup. Now, as with everything, we want ready jointed cheap pieces of meat and discard much which goes into our ever-growing land fill. I queried why Tesco and Asda could not look at removing caged eggs long term as the other Supermarkets are doing. I was told, it is the customer wants cheap eggs. The customer may well buy the cheapest eggs in the shop, but take away the caged option, and others will be bought. I can buy 6 large free range eggs for £1.55 When you consider what a good source of protein they are, and how versatile they are, how can £ 1.55 be considered expensive? We have no qualms about spending twice that on a fast food meal or pre-packed sandwich. If more supermarkets would take the Waitrose approach to animal welfare, it would become the norm. I am an auxillary nurse on a low income and I could easily spend a lot less on my food, but put simply, I don't want to :- I don't want it on my conscience that an animal suffered because of me. And I don't want to eat such poor quality food.

Capitalism is the system of production of commodities for profit.

Intensive factory farming methods represent the 'logical' purest expression of the production of food for profit.

Large scale food production distribution and retail, currently in the hands of monopoly capitalism should be taken into public ownership with democratic workers' control and management.

This would ensure that wholesome and healthy food is produced through the utilisation of husbandry methods and techniques that ordinary working people would not regard as completely repugnant. www.socialistparty.org.uk

What an appalling way to treat living creatures who feel pain and suffering. We should all be ashamed of ourselves for allowing this barbaric practice to continue in what is supposed to be a civilised society. If consumers stopped purchasing such meat from supermarkets and avoided fast food chicken and duck unless its production method is stipulated then things could change overnight, but it needs a concerted effort. Failing that, why not try vegetarian food more often, it's tasty and nutritious but above all, cruelty free.

Meat should be a luxury, not a staple food.

Animal welfare standards suffer because farmers are paid so little for their produce by supermarkets. Supermarkets pay so little because their customers are so eager to buy cheap meat.

This is an emotive issue - images of suffering are easy to understand, if uncomfortable to watch. If consumers were to think about the consequences of their choices, rather than look for the cheapest meal, surely they would spend differently, and supermarket buying would follow suit.

Thank you for making this front page news.

I've been a vegetarian for years because I cannot abide the methods of industrial farming, which are appallingly unethical and cruel.

If in response to a battery cage ban for egg layers you have to put 6 million hens out onto range it will require an area the size of Hampshire. Similarly new EU rules (conveniently overlooked in the article) mean that stocking densities for broilers will be reduced from 38kgs/sq m to 30kgs.Therefore there will be a demand for 25% more growing space in order to maintain bird numbers. Will the NIMBY attitude of many newcomers to the rural way of life change with regard towards planning for these beneficial changes in poultry welfare? I doubt it somehow.
Meanwhile the supermarkets will simply move their source of supply for cheap meat to Brazil.Will you be writing to Brazilian newspapers complaining about their poultry welfare standards? I doubt that too.

Well Done The Independent for highlighting this appalling cruelty on your front page today. It is one thing to be a meat eater, but another to condone this barbaric treatment of sentient creatures. The more this issue is thrust in front of the British public, can only be of help, so please don't stop, keep working with CIWF to keep this sort of news at the forefront.

This was one of the main reasons for me choosing to become first vegetarian 20 years ago and now vegan. I do not want to be part of an industry of cruelty and suffering!

This really bad practice has got to stop. Hopefully the public will put pressure on the different organisations concerned. It is a real disgrace that huge supermarkets accept these chicken from these bad suppliers. It is a real disgrace that the supermarkets sell these chicken at such cheap rates.

You are what you eat. Every cell in a human body is built and maintained with amino acids from the food you consume. Do you want your body to be made from those poor sickly miserable creatures? I do eat and enjoy meat, but only organic. I cannot bear the idea that an animal would have to endure a life of hell so I could eat it. Well done the Independent for drawing attention to this issue.

I found the comments of the chief executive at the end of the article disgraceful.

Chicken pie, chicken curry, tinned chicken soup, frozen chicken nuggets, chicken stock cubes etc etc are also made with battery chickens. If any were made with free range birds, the label would say so - and it never does.

Don't forget the contents of the rotisserie, revolving invitingly by the supermarket door - they aren't free range either.

If the campaign misses this aspect of the market, there is a real risk that the industry will operate on two levels - free range for chicken sold whole or in portions, battery for processed food. And since processed food is where the real profit is made, supermarkets could probably pay lip service to the campaign by using "packaged" chicken products to subsidise the price of the free-range whole chickens they offer so altruistically.

Similarly, we can buy free range eggs but, if we buy cakes etc made with battery eggs (and, again, the label would say so if the eggs were free range) we are still condoning cruelty.

If people do not feel any shame in the continuing hideous system of chicken breeding in large overcrowded dirty hangars then perhaps they might consider the point of their own personal health which cannot be improved by eating sub-standard meat on the brittle bones of obviously unhealthy chicken.
Surely we as a society should say a loud 'no' to a system which is obviously cruel and which contibutes to substandard quality of food for our over-weight population?.

The Independent should pursue every Supermarket Chairman and Elected Politician to find out their views are on this type of farming and publish the results!(Too much work?)

Good for the Independent to bring this appalling situation to peoples' notice - at least it's started debate! Eating meat obviously means that a sentient being has to be killed. If carnivores can live with that, so be it, but at least lobby for your dinner to be cruelty-free and healthy - as was pointed out in other comments - do you really want to eat cruelly-reared, sickly meat? Why do some people get the idea that cruelty is ok as long as it's done to others, especially animals. Conversely, starving children in developing nations could be better helped if their families were allowed to peacefully grow their vegetable crops, instead of continually being displaced by famine-causing wars.

I couldnt care less how cheap it gets nor how they are treated. We need to greatly increase the production of cheap protein to feed the human population and animal welfare doesnt come in to it unless it improves production quantities.

www.urban75.com/Mag/veggie.html

Copy and paste the above link into your broswer and have a read.I defy any farmer to come on here and try and bullshit us that what they do is NOT cruel.
Quite frankly farmers make me want to puke.They are the first to complain when they make losses,but are always head of the queue when it comes to handouts made available to bolster up the economics of the madhouse...which is basically what agricultural economics is.

I love chicken. So many ways to cook it. I am happy with the great progress the farmers have showed in improving the taste and tecture of Chicken in recent years. And keeping the cost very low.

As the late Great Frank Perdue used to say...."It takes a tough man to make a tender Chicken". Thank God we have those tough men.

Yeah, lets all have a look at the 'tough men' shall we? Well hard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OumJ7fp0bQY

* * * The above film contains graphic, highly disturbing scenes of animal slaughter * * *

Anyone who states that animals should be kept in these conditions and that they do not care how they are bred is a waste of good oxygen, if only the planet could exterminate them on a daily basis.

All those who eat meat should have to spend just one day in those stinking hell-holes to realise that what we do to animals is abhorrent.

Going vegetarian or vegan is the only way to stop these poor miserable animals from suffering.

As a doctor I am well aware of the violence and suffering in this world and to our great shame most of it is dealt out to defenceless animals. Those that partake in this cruelty are a waste of valuable space.

www.viva.org.uk for footage of animal suffering

I live in the eastern part of Oklahoma (USA) and they have numerous chicken and turkey farms in this part of the state and in Arkansas. The poultry is raised in the identical conditions. Steroids and antibiotics and injected into the eggs, hens and roosters in order to produce what is known as the "super rooster". Since I have 2 acres of land, I bought some hens. The feed that I buy for them does not contain antibiotics or an egg-production (stimulating) medicine.

The state of Oklahoma sued the state of Arkansas because of the poultry pollution dumped into the Illinois River. The Illinois fills Lake Tenkiller, which use to be a crystal clear lake. Now you can hardly see your feet in the water less than a meter from the bank.

The bacteria that is in the river is exceptionally harmful. A local doctor confirmed that when a person breaks a bone and the bone penetrates the skin, they have to given antibiotics that have the strength of chemotherapy.

I will continue to fill my diet with cheese and an occasional chicken that I kill. The taste of mass-produced chicken does not compare to the taste of "home grown". Plus the mass-produced chicken has an odd "feel" to it. These chickens have been developed to grow fast, however, the poultry industry has been unable to develop the organs (heart, liver, lungs) to match the size of the body. My natural grown chickens have hearts 3-4 times larger than the mass-produced chickens.

Well done The Independent for giving proper front page prominence to this appalling scandal.

In answer to your question: lets boycott cheap chicken immediately and work for a government ban on factory farming and all other cruelty to our defenceless fellow creatures.

I'm pleased that the Independent has brought this topic up. Most people know about the bad treatment of animals, but neverthless need being reminded of it. I cannot imagine that an organisation such as Sun Valley Foods were not aware of the living conditions of the chickens they deal in until shown up by the CIWF: either they are lying or just plain incompetent. Neither can I imagine that consumers will influence the practices: price plays too big a part in consumer behaviour. So, I'm afraid legislation is the answer . . . if the government has the moral courage to legislate.

I wish reporters would get their facts straight. Broilers are not kept in Batteries, at least not in the UK.

Compassion in World Farming should live up to their name and go around the world to check the conditions that chickens will be kept in when they have closed down the UK industry.

You can always find a bad example and claim it is the norm, They appear crowded for the last week of their growing cycle, but they always have ample room to feed and drink. If a chicken's welfare is compromised, it will not grow efficiently and would be more likely to catch disease, so good welfare is good economics.

The real problem is one of perception. The idea of so many chickens in one building is outside the average experience and the way a film crew videos chickens is always quite disgraceful. They invariably chase them to get an effect and the very fact of someone walking through with a video camera disturbs the birds.

I grew broiler chickens for many years until low prices forced me out. The production from my farm was not replaced within the UK, it will simply now be part of the imports from Brazil or Thailand, where UK companies have their own farms to get away from the obsessive and unsustainable rules and regulations in this country. So much for food miles.

Regulations not just on stock welfare, which are very rigorous, (no complaints about that), but also the massive social legislation, such as 12 months maternity leave, paternity leave, full holiday and other unwarranted privileges for a casual worker doing maybe 16 hours or less per week. These are costs that do not apply in Brazil and Thailand, neither do they have Climate Change Levy, or the ultimate gem, Industrial Pollution, Prevention and Control. This legislation from the EU was previously reserved for the likes of chemical factories such as ICI.

It means that a broiler grower now has to have a licence from the Environment Agency, costing around £4000, just to grow chickens, plus an annual renewal fee of around £1800, plus any compliance costs, of which there will be many, because of new requirements constantly invented by the bureaucrats of the EA.

The idea that Free Range is the ideal, is a nonsense, particularly for broilers, as they are too young to cope with the vagaries of an English winter, due to get colder as the current warm cycle comes to an end. It is completely unsustainable as a main production system for the huge numbers of chicken consumed in this country. It succeeds as a niche market, but as numbers increase, prices drop and it becomes financially non-viable. The sheer amount of land required for just under a billion chickens annual consumption puts it totally out of court and the increased risk of disease such as salmonella, or respiratory infections from wild birds is real and ever present.

I get extremely annoyed by the likes of Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and other so-called celebrity chefs, who make massive wadges of cash from trashing someone else's livelihood. They speak from personal prejudice and total ignorance and are just food snobs.

The average family gets a very wholesome meal at an affordable price from chicken and to raise these scares every so often is disgraceful.

The chefs cash in, CIWF cash in, because whenever they get publicity like this their subscription income goes up, plus I suspect they receive EU money, as do other NGO's, to lobby the EU to attack our farmers.

Does it make any difference to the chickens? Probably not in a positive way, as next week they are last weeks news. It is quite likely to affect them negatively, because for a short while this latest nonsense will depress sales and reduce farm income even more, leading to the risk of corner cutting where it did not happen before.

Feed costs have risen enormously because of the hike in wheat prices resulting from the ethanol scam. When a population starts to burn food for fuel instead eating it, you know the lunatics have taken over the asylum.

The pictures are bad, however not every one can afford Free range or Organic meat - (what ever that means) Its ok for some to sneer . What should a person on a low wage do - eat fatty food in stead - then get blamed that they are at fault for inducing bad health upon them selves. As Jamie Oliver is linked to a well known supermarket you do have to wonder who will gain - no doubt his sponsor.....

i'm glad that this issue has finally come to the attention of the nationwide media.

The cost of a free range chicken will not have changed (excluding inflation) that much since the 1940's but the fact they bring up the price because it contains the words free-range.The price should be reasonable for producers and consumers but also should be treated as the norm and the standard broilers should be outlawed.

Anybody who says it is alright to have broilers.put yourself in the chickens shoes.

As with many aspects of modern life the most effective means of driving change are through the decisions we make as individual consumers. We need to understand how each of our purchasing decisions impact on animal welfare, on the environment and on the countryside. We do need a strong viable UK agricultural sector in order to maintain livelihoods and communities. The welfare standards in the UK, in general, are significantly better than in many other countries in the world. We eat significant quantities of chicken in the UK because it is relatively healthy, versatile, and easy to cook. Youngsters in particular enjoy chicken in comparison to pork or beef. The key point is that we must be sure that where ever we buy our chicken (and this includes both supermarket fresh meat as well as meals eaten in restaurants or fast food outlets) must be produced to good welfare standards. Just to stop eating chicken, or other meats, is not the right decision. Each one of us exercising responsible buying decisions is.

A consumer boycott would be the most effective. During the campaign to abolish slavery in the West Indies the public in this country stopped buying sugar and it was immediately a success.

It'd be interesting to see what'd happen to the meat industry if, instead of marketing meat products in a consumer friendly way, companies had to actually label their goods with honest, no nonsense descriptions of what they're selling. So, for instance, Sun Valley Foods would have to call their company 'Animal Cadaver Foods'. You can't buy rump steak, it's called 'cow's buttock', it wouldn't be served 'rare', it'd be served 'still bleeding'. Bacon would become 'fatty pig flesh', sausages would become 'gristle wrapped in stomach' and cheese would be 'soured bovine mammary secretion'. Along with this, the packaging wouldn't feature idyllic pictures of suns and valleys and rolling fields, it would have a photo of a pig being shot with a bolt or a cow struggling as the life gushes out of it through the gaping wound in it's throat.

I'm not predicting what it'd achieve, I just think it's interesting that the meat and animal product industry is coy about what it sells as far as marketing goes. It's like the Tobacco industry in the 70's showed stuff like 'The Marlbro Man' in their advertising because the reality of smoking was just so un-appealing to the consumer.

As far as working out what the best way to approach animal welfare is r.e. free range/organic etc...there really is only one answer, if you don't want to be directly responsible (as a producer or consumer) for abuse, cruelty and suffering of animals, don't eat them or their products and don't wear their skin. They don't need excuses and they don't need half measures.

'Posted by: Margaret Keynes | Friday, 04 January 2008 at 04:35 PM

I couldnt care less how cheap it gets nor how they are treated. We need to greatly increase the production of cheap protein to feed the human population and animal welfare doesnt come in to it unless it improves production quantities.'

How the HELL do you live with your conscience? Words fail me. I assume you're someone who drifted over here by mistake, from The Sun perhaps, or The Daily Express, or some other mindless cretin 'newspaper'.

Bear in mind that these chickens are also pumped full of antibiotics etc., to keep them disease free in such a disgusting atmosphere, the public then eats the chicken meat and wonders why they are becoming immune to antibiotics. The public has to realise that cheap, factory farmed, antibiotic-soaked meat is no longer viable. An outright ban on factory farming per se would benefit us all.

How very noble of people who can afford it to pledge to buy free range or organic Chicken products.

It is your personal choice to pay three times more for poultry products than I do fair enough.

You have no right to stop me being able to buy a chicken for £2.50. I will make my choices you have the right to make yours.

I think that this kind of treatment of Chickens and other poultry should be banned as soon as possible. Organic farming should be encouraged by Government. With all this type of production PROFIT comes before compassion, and care of the animals involved. Perhaps we should all be prepared to pay more for it and eat less of it. It was a reminder to us of seeing staff at Bernard Mathews playing football with a Turkey last year.

Any company or corporation is usually motivated by either profits or shareholders satisfaction. Anything perceived as an obstacle to this ultimate end must be removed. In other words, only if forced by law will there be compliance, we cannot expect any voluntary action when the whole entreprise has been based on market research and its demand. Public outcry, might slowly introduce a new dimension into our "purely economic endeavours", quality of life for animals and for human, and in general respect for life itself in its many manifestations. By harming the environment and the animals we utltimately harm ourselves. Money is literally tasteless, we do not consume it the way we consume water, crops, fish and meat. When we talk about cheap chicken, what are we actually feeding ourselves ?

Can I please have the right to eat poultry which is free from H5N1 because it has been reared conditions where the chicken in question has been isolated from the environment?

Also will someone please volunteer to pay the difference as for me if I have to pay over £3.00 for a chicken I will no longer be able to afford it, and to me a standard chicken represents the protein portion for three meals.

What a comment on our society! Animals at the age of less than six weeks which can hardly walk, which sit in their own excreta to take the weight off their inadequate legs,and which do not exercise because of the resulting pain. Can the meat they produce possibly be healthy? I think not. Add to this the environmental consequences of this method of production, feeding these sick creatures with grains which could be used by starving humans, water which will grow ever scarcer in the future - the mountains of ammonia ridden faeces. This industry needs reform URGENTLY.

What a comment on our society! Animals at the age of less than six weeks which can hardly walk, which sit in their own excreta to take the weight off their inadequate legs,and which do not exercise because of the resulting pain. Can the meat they produce possibly be healthy? I think not. Add to this the environmental consequences of this method of production, feeding these sick creatures with grains which could be used by starving humans, water which will grow ever scarcer in the future - the mountains of ammonia ridden faeces. This industry needs reform URGENTLY.

Although I have been acutely aware of the deplorable treatment of animals for cheap meat for years, I am glad that the Independent has used CIWF's report to expose this for people who truly believe that cheap food doesn't cut corners somewhere along the production line.

I do not eat meat or animal products because I could not bear this suffering on my conscience. Although organic and free range offers better standards of welfare, it does not mean that the animals, or birds in this case, are sung a lullaby before they are slaughtered. This is still a terrifying and tortuous process.

Jacqueline Mallet - whilst I appreciate your concern about eating 'safe' food, I think that you should be better informed of the causes and development of the H5N1 virus before claiming that birds raised in conditions 'isolated from the environment' will be immune from becoming infected. It still amazes me that people believe that this cheap meat which has suffered accelerated growth BY PUMPING IT WITH DRUGS is good, healthy food! Please see the information on the factsheet below.
http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/chickens/brdflu_factsheet.html

And to Margaret Keynes who said, 'We need to greatly increase the production of cheap protein to feed the human population and animal welfare doesnt come in to it unless it improves production quantities,' your ignorance is quite astounding. The Western world's GREED for meat contributes to the famine in the third world - aren't these also people who deserve to eat, or are we all busy pitying the lower classes in the UK who bemoan paying more than £2.50 for a chicken?

Taken from:
http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/hot/dietofdisaster/index.php

'A similar lack of concern for human life is revealed in the economic stranglehold which the developed nations have on the third world. Discriminatory import tariffs ensure that impoverished suppliers of cash crops remain that way. The crops they grow are largely high-protein fodder crops destined to feed the West’s animals.

It is a huge industry largely controlled by multinational corporations (MNCs) and it is no coincidence that the countries which produce the bulk of these fodder crops are the most impoverished – those with crushing burdens of landlessness, food insecurity and starvation-related diseases.'

Finally, the comment made at the end of the article by the Chief Executive was a contradiction in terms. The evidence that CIWF provided was clearly of animal abuse, and as it was quite rightly pointed out, if we kept pets in these conditions, we would be prosecuted. What hope have we when people like this are in such positions of authority?

The facts speak for themselves and no amount of reassurance from Peter Bradnock and others will alter the reality. There should be a ban on all high stocking densities (do not be fooled by the word free range - some "free range" chickens still suffer appalling conditions). In addition supermarkets should start positive advertising (similar to Anchor with cows out in the open, fed on grass) displaying pictures of the actual conditions of true free range and organic chickens side by side with those reared under intensive factory farming conditions. If consumers really knew what their meat "cost" many would think twice. So, show the grim reality (graphic photographs), and add the caption "Which will you buy now?" or "So this is what you really want?"

My apologies to Jacqueline Mallet who I misquoted in my above entry. It was the comment made by Christopher Linthwaite, to whom I suggest reads the factsheet about the H5N1 virus.

Compassion in World Farming, a pressure group which bases it fundraising activities on ending the production of animals for meat, enters one farm and surprisingly shoots footage that shows a few distressing images. They then find some pet anti-animal agriculture spokespeople and allow them to trot out the usual rhetoric. The Independant newspaper picks up this story (I guess it is a slow news day) and asks one repsentative from the BPC to comment and he is given 3 lines. This doesn't appear to be "independent" or balanced to me.
On average in the UK, around 98% of broiler chickens are "fit for purpose" and are processed at the slaughter house. If you find that offensive please feel free not to eat chicken or any other animal for that matter, it is called free choice. However, check with the WHO, last year the mortality rates for infants under 12 months globally was over 5%.
Yes, we should do our best to safeguard the welfare of animals, but please please let's put this matter into perspective, and hear effectively from all parties involved.

I gave up eating red meat some 20 years ago but continued to eat chicken and fish but, no longer, having read the RSPCA request for consumers to boycott cheap chicken products in supermarkets because of the appalling conditions the chickens are reared in. If we are really an animal-loving nation, a law should be brought in to halt this terrible cruelty - as soon as possible please.

The riddle is how to rid the world of 'gut reaction' and 'price tag magnetism' of the lesser educated in any societal group. We talk here of education of the 'masses'. It is clear from this blog that most participants are 'human' and appreciate the cost the animals pay to feed this 'insensitive gut reaction' and 'insatiable price tag magnetism'.

There are psychological barriers. People first need to begin to value themselves, their family members, their friends, neighbours, fellow human beings, in general. It may sound glib but it isn't. There is a perfectly good reason why the masses have not yet developed the degree of caring they might have. In the human jungle, alas, it is increasingly the survival of the fittest. There is no consideration, in the global market, for the welfare of 'human resources'. The rather officious phrase itself, 'human resources', rather than, say, 'Personnel' indicates that people are there to provide wealth to the state or to a minority of privileged entrepreneurs who have the economic power to subdue those earning a meagre daily living for themselves and for their family.

I am a tongue-in-cheek vegetarian. Hand on heart, I have not touched meat, game or poultry since 1989, meat since 1987 and game since 1988. At the time, in Good Old Blighty, successive medical reports decrying the dangerous use of artificial hormones in cattle and poultry; rising occurrences of Salmonella; Listeria (from uncured cheeses); BSE from beef and, arguably, from sheep and lamb and regular scares about disease in pig herds compelled me to give up eating all flesh. My ex-husband agreed we should cut down, at least, and my three sons were too young to comment but, as luck would have it, they not only didn't object to vegetables, beans and pulses and fruits but they seemed to delight in all the exotic dishes I began to serve at table.

I never gave up serving fish. This is why I have labelled myself a 'tongue-in-cheek' vegetarian. From mid 1988, I decided to forgo 'seafood'. Rumours of extra-commercial processes and methods of long-term preservation rather put me off, initially, for health reasons. A number of our friends started going down with digestive problems from, say, having eaten crab for dinner. My family and I, I should admit, thoroughly enjoyed a wealth of seafood meals in Florida, in Ile de Rey in Charentes Maritimes, in the South of Italy and in Malta but what finally won the day was a spiritual renewal within myself. I fully recognised some classic textual teaching that creatures that fed on waste material were not for human consumption. Thus, I never again felt tempted by a shrimp or a langoustine anywhere in the world. For old times' sake, if you ever feel tempted to eat seafood, try out Atlantic Pollock. It beautifully transforms itself into calamari or scallops and other seafood style delicacies and it is clean.

While, I agree, superstitious hand-me-downs have tended to classify caviar as unclean, the sturgeon is effectively recognised as a creature of impeccably clean dietary habits. So, any doubts remain the undisputed preserve of those who prefer to be safe than sorry.

In line with those sensitive people who feel that fish equally deserve respect and consideration and that fish also have sensitivity and pain levels, I would like to apologise for this weakness I have retained of eating white fish (or pink). I am exceptionally careful to eat species with both fins and scales. Through hard experience, I know that this is, indeed, wise. I won't go into the sordid details but halibut, for instance, a delicate white fish, does not have scales and is rather vulnerable to catching lethal worms in its swimming habits close to seals or sea lions. These worms are immune to deep freezing, chilling, and cooking at high temperature. Ingesting the worms requires a rather painful remedy. In truth, there is always wisdom implied alongside any prohibition. Even if the prohibition is man made, it is clearly made by men or women who have either experienced the downside of breaking these laws or have been inately sensitive to some natural laws that most of us have grown deadened to.

In theory or, idealistically, I would rather be wholly vegetarian. I travel a fair bit and have spent the last six years in Japan, Korea, Spain and Germany. While the latter has similar eating preferences to us Brits and there is no problem finding vegetarian options throughout the country, the rest, alas, create close to insurmountable difficulties. I must admit I must be a minority, together with one of my sons, who are so intransigent about our dietary habits that we, eventually, win the respect and admiration of our colleagues, friends and neighbours. They, at least, acknowledge that we mean what we say. While my son swings from totally vegan to vegetarian with dairy products, I do reluctantly include bio eggs (have to pay more) and some cheese in my diet. I eat fish about once a week on average.

Here in Spain, vegetarianism is simply not understood. In Madrid, Barcelona and one or two other larger cities, the trend is fast taking hold. Madrid is now teeming with innumerable ecological centres, bio supermarkets, restaurants and all that green philosophy ordains. The downside is that these paradisical spaces still run at a loss as relatively few and sparse Spaniards take advantage of them. But it is a slowly growing trend.

I happen to have sojourned in Salamanca in the last 15 months. I do not regret the wealth of history, culture, architecture and other treasures I have had the good fortune to share but eating has, indeed, been the painful downside - a lot worse than Japan or Korea. If I were to tell Salmantinos I didn't believe in G-d, they would shrug, think I was an eccentric foreigner but still be my friends. If I told them I didn't eat ham or pork products including black pudding, I would be erased from the list of human beings. Reactions would vary on a scale from 'they didn't hear my objection at all', to 'incomprehensibility', to an instant reaction to insult me, to accuse me of belonging to some faddish community, to having no palate, to insulting my Britishness... The scale is indeed a long one. Ultimately, the Spanish are still playground bullies. They all respond coolly: "Our food is very good!' sanctimoniously. A rhetorical statement that allows for no response. If you say, with a smile: 'The problem with ham here is that it stinks so!" the response is fundamentalist. "You are un-christian to make such a suggestion!"

I have experienced the whole gamut of responses in Spain. As a teacher, lecturer, instructor in their institutions, I have often had an opportunity to say: "Don't we have the obligation to respect the customs and norms of others? For example, some 2 billion moslems in the world don't eat pork or pork products because their sacred texts forbid it. Some 16 to 18 million Jews, likewise, are forbidden from eating pork or pork products. The Spanish response - at all social levels and degrees of education would laugh crudely and loudly guffaw that all moslems and Jews in Spain do eat ham. They have no choice and they are ridiculed and penalised both socially and in their careers if they were to refuse ham." Clearly, this is an utter exaggeration but I feel for persons who are put under such dire pressure and bullying. It is a great shame.

I am a Euro fan and feel we should move closer to Europe. This state of affairs in Spain, however, brings me back in sympathy with Euro sceptics. If so many countries are plunged into a shared system willy nilly, we must needs establish our individual rights. Remember that much of Europe does not define Democracy in the same way as we do in Britain. Consumer rights are hardly given a passing thought in most of Western Europe. This is another topic. However, while we teem, in Britain, for example, with thousands of restaurants from all over the world, each manned and run by their own nationals, in countries like Spain this is still not allowed or extremely rarely and, even then, controlled. There is an autocracy that is not even hidden here in Spain. I believe, in Portugal, for instance, freedom of thought and expression is also a sore point in certain areas and this must be dealt with at Brussels level.

We could spill over into other areas such as recognition of our degrees and educational attainments. This is a sore point in Spain today and this is not a platform for discussing this point.

In conclusion, I fully agree that we must, collectively, re-think our raison d'etre regarding our consumption of chickens, other poultry, game, etc. and oversee a renewal of perception. My point is that we need not only to export our sentiments for the poor creatures but to actively participate in discussions with our partners in the EU to try to establish a common ground for our day to day human activity. This requires goodwill, ongoing education and the effort to get off our backsides and actually communicate with our partners across the community. Without solidarity between the groupings, cultures and ways of seeing things, we will never get to fully understand and respect our common goals nor rights for our individual preferences and ideals.

.

Of course clear labels is what we have, like a label - with a photo of where the birds are raised and a note saying "This bird has been kept indoors for all of its life, in a shed alongside its 49,999 sisters, generally for little more than a month. It being slaughtered at 39 to 42 days." - that should clarify things.

I know for a fact that this page contains contributions from people whom represent the interests of the large companies involved in the production of these chickens.

It is dishonest of them to conceal their role and vested interest/s.

No surprises there then.

This front cover must have been a brave decision. But I think it's worked as I never buy the Independent but today's cover persuaded me. Chicken cruelty must end!

Also I think people should consider more than just eggs and chicken meat. Many products like pasta, mayonnaise, stock cubes, meringues etc are the result of intensive chicken farming too. I urge you to read the label and shop around. There are free-range versions of these products if you look around.

CUTTING UP A WHOLE CHICKEN

It takes more than one go to cutting up a whole chicken to become an expert. However..once you get the hang of it..you can cut up a chicken in no time at all and with very little effort.

Perhaps the best reason to learn how to cut up a whole chicken is that it will save you money. Buying a whole chicken is cheaper than buying pieces, and the leftovers are great for soup.

1) Put the chicken breastbone up on a flat surface.

2) cut off the wing joints....save them for soup.

3)Make a marking cut along one side of the breast.

4) Slowly Deepen it as you pull the meat away from the rib cage.

5) Make sure you floss away the meat from the rib cage. It gets easier the more you do it.

6) where the rib cage meets the wing joints....slice through the cartiledge. Right near the wishbone.

The breasts should come off easily and the legs are self evident at this point.

Remember...the more you use whole chickens..the less chuckens are needed.

I becme an vegetarian 65 years ago as a resut of seeing the cruelty then inflicted on animals. Since then, the advent of "battery" systems has dehumanised the producers and hoodwinked the public who are unwilling to see further than the price tag. I would close down all battery production tomorrow and put the producers in jail for cruelty to animals, pollution of food products (because battery chickens can hardly be very nutritious and are often diseased), and criminal activity. Some hopes however, and I guess I'm unlikely to see any moves in my (now limited)lifetime.

To put it shortly, that reminds me of an old song of the
most famous vegan, John Lennon. Though "How do you sleep"
was written for Sir Paul, we can, having read the article, direct the same question to those who are having white wine and broiled chicken for their dinner
enjoyment.

It's a pity the reporter did not do some proper research into intensive broiler production in the UK. Some of the quoted mortality, lameness and the talk of burn on their legs, hock burn to give it the proper term, are so high that any farmer or company running at that sort of waste level in the present economic cycle would go out of business before the