February 13th 2008
British Supermarket Tesco Doubles Order For Free-Range Chickens
Filed under: animals, campaigns, food & drink, green and famous, healthy living, products, shopping, thegreenpicture — parrish @ 1:28 pm
I think it’s safe to say that Ecorazzi has been relentless in covering all the chicken drama going on in Britian. In case you haven’t been reading (shame on you), here’s the low down on the down low:
A bunch of celebrity chefs were sick of all the piss poor conditions that most chickens are forced to endure. So, they decided to go VERY public with their concern, asking supermarkets and consumers to raise the bar on poultry standards. Jamie Oliver talked some trash and got in a little trouble with Sainsbury’s, but at the end of the day, the large grocery retailer agreed to adopt higher standards, so it was all kind of worth it. However, every time we’d write a story about the “premium” British chickens (do they have cool accents?), we’d get tons of comments that they were all sold out. Well here’s some good news:
The British supermarket, Tesco, has just doubled their order for premium chickens!!! This will bring the proportion of higher welfare chicken to about 30 percent of total chicken sales-an increase of 70 per cent from this time last year. What’s also great is that the media is acknowledging the fact that the crew of celebrity chefs had everything to do with the rise in awareness. You guys…THIS IS AWESOME!!
Now even though I don’t eat chicken (go vegans) and even though I’ve never been out of the country (go ignorant Americans), I’m basically flapping my wings over the fact that things seem to be getting better. My personal thanks to Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for seriously stepping to the plate and really making a difference. Now British readers, it’s up you! If you’re a meat-eater, visit Tesco this week and let Ecorazzi know if “premium” chickens are back in stock. If not, I’ll just have to finally get a passport and go abroad for some undercover Ecorazzi reporting.
photo credit: famouschicken.com
sorry, i love the site and the article alike, but that “brittan” in the first paragraph is driving me insane.
it has now been corrected to “britian”
Maddison-this only further proves that I should spend more time exploring the map…or at least reading one! Thanks for the edit.
I wish people on this side of the Atlantic cared as much about stopping the horrific abuse of chickens on factory farms as well. Once we have a bird flu outbreak is probably when we’ll finally start taking notice.
That’s some tasty reporting. When you go across that pond you’ll have to report on how much easier it is to find vegan options there, too! I’ve heard that everything is labeled if it’s suitable for vegetarians vs. vegans, even the cheese.
Incredible. This is a good news anyway!
Roxana @ http://www.celebrityaxe.com
[...] couple months ago Ecorazzi reported news that Jamie Oliver had convinced Tesco (a popular Brittish supermarket) to double their order of premium chickens, bringing the [...]
[...] news on the celebrity chef front! For the last few months Ecorazzi has kept you abreast on all the chicken reform that’s taking place in the UK. Together, celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh [...]
[...] however, he’s been on the other side of the fence — receiving praise for his work to encourage the purchase of organic, free range chickens and local [...]