Thanks in no small part to Hugh F W and Jamie O, I proudly show you these two pieces of cool news
UK: Sainsbury's To End Sale Of Battery Chickens
Sainsbury's has announced that it is planning to phase out the sale of controversial battery reared chickens, eventually ensuring all its stock meet RSPCA standards. The move follows the recent TV campaign by celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to end the use of battery farms to raise chickens.
Oliver, who is paid £1.2m a year to front Sainsbury's ads said, "This is another massive step in the battle for better standards where chicken
welfare is concerned. I'm delighted Sainsbury's made this commitment".
Sainsbury's Judith Batchelar yesterday said bosses had met the two chefs last year to assure them the store back chicken welfare, adding sales of poultry reared in better surroundings were up 60% since January. She said, "With greater availability of affordable options, customers don't have to compromise."
Namnews - Thursday 7th August 2008
UK: Tesco Reduces Organic Food Prices
Tesco has cut the price of its organic produce as customer demand slows in response to the credit crunch. Tesco said the cost of popular organic vegetable and salad lines were now at levels last seen almost a decade ago. Tesco said much of the price fall was due to an increase in British produce. Last year most organic produce was imported from Europe and America after widespread flooding affected the local yield. Tesco organic produce buyer Jonathan Corbett said, "Shoppers have told us that they want organic produce but want to pay prices closer to the standard equivalent and this is what we have done. "On top of shoppers' tighter budgets, most UK retailers have increased the price of organic produce as a result of last year's poor harvest caused by flooding across the country.
"In fact last year's organic harvest was the poorest in British farming history and many farmers are still counting the cost of a much lower
yield."
Demand for organic produce across all retailers has fallen by 8.1% over the last three months, according to retail analysts TNS. Britain's organic produce market is valued at £283m a year. In the last 12 weeks demand for organic fruit had fallen by 18%, while organic salad had dropped by 3% and vegetables were down 1%.
Namnews - Thursday 7th August 2008