The RSPCA is calling on retailers to stop selling cheap meat from chickens reared in poor conditions, saying shoppers should be prepared to pay more to ensure they are bred in a better environment.
The charity wants supermarkets to sell only "higher welfare chicken" - free-range, organic or produced to its own Freedom Food standards - by 2010.
It says the overwhelming majority of the 855m chickens reared for their meat in the UK every year are kept in cramped, dimly lit spaces, and has created an online petition for consumers to put pressure on retailers - http://www.supportchickennow.co.uk.
Millions of shoppers already shun eggs from battery farms, with almost 38% of eggs sold in the UK now coming from non-caged hens. However, only about 5% of chickens reared in the UK for meat are kept in higher welfare conditions.
The RSPCA's campaign, launched today with full-page adverts in the form of an open letter to retailers in four national newspapers, including the Guardian, is timed to coincide with a short season of Channel 4 programmes, featuring Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, focusing on chicken farming.
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