I have to admit I never really gave much thought to chicken welfare until I saw Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's TV programme, launching the Chicken Out campaign a few weeks ago. He conducted an experiment rearing some chickens as free range and some chickens in a cramped, smelly barn - the way we rear 95% of the chickens we eat. It was disgusting.

I wasn't shocked in the sense that I knew in the back of my mind that conditions were bad, but I was appalled and ashamed that we, as a nation of consumers have bought chickens for so long without questioning the lives they have led. How could we have let it get like this? It is disrespect en-masse.

Dom and I don't eat whole chickens often, but after the show we immediately started buying free range eggs. Then when it came to buying a whole chicken from Asda, they had ran out of free range. I refused to buy anything else and sent a complaint email to customer services.

A week later, I checked Morrisons. There were some chickens on the shelf, but myself and two others were questioning whether we should buy them. The labels said they were RSPCA approved, but when you read the small print, they were actually kept in barns.

It turns out that Hugh and Jamie approve of the Freedom Food label. So it's better than nothing (it's still not good enough). At least if people buy the RSPCA approved chickens the supermarkets might shift their supply to meet the demand for ethical food.

I finally bought a chicken yesterday from Somerfield. It was the last one on the shelf that bore the Freedom Food label.

Now, I don't know whether it was just psychological, knowing that the little animal had lived a better life, but that chicken was possibly the best roast chicken we had ever tasted.

Support the campaign. Get Chickens Out!

Labels: buying, cooking