Following on from the June feature on ethical egg shopping, this month we’ve collaborated with the good folks over at Farm-Direct to bring you some thoughts about the chickens behind the eggs.
Since the start of VegBox Recipes, we’ve been focused almost exclusively (and unsurprisingly!) on supporting you to eat local, seasonal, organic fruit and vegetables.
However, not all of our readers are strict vegetarians or vegans. So whilst it’s still true that one of the best ways of reducing your household carbon footprint is to switch to a vegetarian or vegan diet, if we’re going to eat meat, poultry and fish, or cook it for others, the natural choice would seem to be swapping quantity (especially ‘worryingly cheap’ quantity), for quality.
So how do you know what you’re eating?
This is what Farm-direct has to say:
"The debate over conventional poultry vs. organic or free range chicken has swamped most of us in the past couple of years. However, at Farm-direct.com we simply believe that good poultry should be a result of excellent breeding and the best welfare standards.
For us it was important to find an independent producer that could offer organically reared chicken that has been allowed to mature naturally for between 80 – 90 days in small flocks and that has been allowed to roam freely and forage outdoors. That led us to our organic chicken farmer at Gill Wing Farm in Eridge, Sussex where we were particularly encouraged by their approach to raising their Sasso chickens amongst 140 hectares of natural farmland and their dedication to producing their own grain for the ducks and chickens. Their choice of breed, the Sasso Chicken, are also excellent for organic rearing due to their hardiness and slow growth that enables them to live healthily whilst providing an excellent texture and flavour enabling us to have poultry that is great value, in both price and quality.
Rather than debate over supermarket chicken it is better to look at the farmers directly, bringing a clearer relationship in view, practices and standards become easier to understand. Farm-direct aims to bring products that support such ideas to our customers and encourage people to shop for local, sustainable and ethical produce and to support British farmers."
What if I decide to use a supermarket?
The choice to shop in supermarkets isn’t straightforwardly about convenience. Some say there is a strong ethical reason to use them – namely that it is only when supermarkets engage in ethical sourcing that we will see the scale of agribusiness-change that animals need for their improved welfare and that the planet needs for it to continue to sustain us on it. Therefore, some would argue that shifting spending within the supermarket, rather than away from it, is the route to large-scale changes.
If you buy this – and our jury is out – then you might want to consider looking for the Freedom Foods label (see a picture of the label here) when you shop (Note: Freedom Foods are also on sale online and at local farmers markets, not just in supermarkets).
Freedom Food is the RSPCA’s farm assurance and food labelling scheme and is the only UK farm assurance scheme to focus solely on improving the welfare of farm animals reared for food. Freedom Food standards take account of legislation,
government welfare codes, scientific research, veterinary advice, recommendations of the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) and the practical experience of the farming industry. Applicants are rigorously inspected annually.
The standards are based on the ‘Five Freedoms’ as defined by FAWC –
o Freedom from hunger and thirst,
o Freedom from discomfort,
o Freedom from pain, injury or disease,
o Freedom to express normal behaviour,
o Freedom from fear and distress,
and as such, cover every aspect of the animals’ lives, including feed and water provision, the environment they live in, how they are managed, health care, transport, and humane slaughter/killing. The standards are designed to ensure that all animals reared according to the requirements have everything they need for a good quality of life, whether they are kept on large or small farms, or in indoor or outdoor production systems.
You can read the full Standards document specifically on chickens here, and the RSPCA website includes resources to help you find Freedom Food stockists here.
What do you think?
If you currently make an effort to buy chicken, or any poultry or meat for that matter, which is ethically sourced, how do you do it?
If you are thinking about making a change to the way you shop for poultry or meat, are you thinking of buying direct from local farms, or using your supermarket?
And if you’d like to make a change but something is stopping you, perhaps you would tell us what it is.
** thanks to our regular reader, Steve-in-KL, for the photo of his "ladies"!
Chicken Recipes:
Chicken, Carrot and Pearl Barley Soup
Quiche with Red Chard and Chicken
Categories: food, seasonal eating
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