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The Gazette
Tuesday 15 January 2008
Mid Devon poultry producer Lloyd Maunder has welcomed the new debate about chicken welfare.
But the family firm says it was "frustrated" by a Channel 4 show about the poultry industry made by TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
In the first episode of Hugh's Chicken Run, broadcast on January 7, the chef claimed that when he asked poultry farmers for access to an intensive farm, "they wouldn't let me any closer than the end of a phone."
However, the company says it set up filming for the series on three farms, including a standard Assured Chicken Production unit which is the type of 'full-on intensive' farm that Hugh claimed he could not get access to.
Commercial director Andrew Maunder said he had been happy to co-operate with both Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver as part of a series of films on the industry. He said: "It is a debate we welcome and want people to get involved in. We welcome Hugh and Jamie bringing it to public attention
"We might not agree 100 per cent with how Hugh goes about it, but he and Jamie are really nice guys and they are doing what they think is right. We have never restricted access to any of our Westcountry farms. We have 150 farmers and they are happy to have journalists look around."
Mr Maunder was a "bit frustrated" by elements of the programme, such as the setting up by Fearnley-Whittingstall of two chicken farms, one to standard rearing, the other to free range guidelines.
"I do have grave concern about anyone keeping animals on that scale, who is not a certified stockman," he said.
Lloyd Maunder says it is proud of its Freedom Foods chicken range, but that did not mean the standard production system was wrong.
"The industry has never said there were improvements which could not be made to the way different types of chicken were kept, and we are always striving to improve conditions. " said Mr Maunder.
"The day I am convinced I can do no more for the welfare of the birds in my care is the day I should give up."
Mr Maunder said it was down to shoppers to take responsibility for the decisions they make as consumers.
He said: "The UK has such an appetite for cheap chicken and the industry can only produce what people will buy.
"We need consumers to take responsibility for their chicken and shift from buying on price to buying on welfare.
"It is easy for the farming community to point the finger at the supermarkets, but farmers and producers will produce what the public wants. People need to spend more time thinking about where the chicken has come from."
Mr Maunder said there was a perception that free range and organic chicken was too expensive, but it was at the lower end of the market that adjustment needed to be made. He said: "There is no doubt, standard chicken is too cheap. You should never sell any animal at a price under the cost of production."
Lloyd Maunder was told the reason the footage and interviews it had taken part in had ended up on the cutting room floor was because of possible duplication with filming with Mr Maunder which featured in Jamie Oliver's programme Fowl Dinners, broadcast on January 11.
In a statement, Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall said: I was delighted to have such a constructive dialogue on chicken welfare with Andrew Maunder and his farmers.
"It's clear that they have a genuine commitment, both to improving poultry welfare and to raising public awareness about the important issues surrounding it.
"Lloyd Maunder can help drive some of the vital changes in the industry that so many of us would like to see and I'm looking forward to seeing this progress continue over the coming months."