Jamie Oliver [and the australian chicken industry]

[Brusilov]

Hi There,

I have recently noticed Friends, Family, Workmates... a generally cross-section of the larger Australian Prime-Time viewing population, after watching Jaimie Oliver's special on poultry farming, have gone completely off eating chicken... cold turkey.

Unfortunately i missed it (or fortunately, as must have been pretty graphic to have such an impact) however through a few of the conversations i've had about this TV show, i've noticed some who had seen it, but not given up chicken, trying to justify this by saying that the Autralian chicken industry is not as hardcore, or cruel on the same scale as in the UK.

Has anyone got any idea where i can find out some more factual information on the web preferabbly (numbers and stats and stuff) on factory farmed, so-called free-range and even relatively "humanely" farmed chickens? (if it even exists? :stinkeye:

Also, comments :D

[hoodedclawjen]

i think this should be in the australia forum, as its a pretty region specific question, but can move it to the AR/AW forum if preferred.

[sybaritik]

Hi Brusilov....welcome to VB :)



through a few of the conversations i've had about this TV show, i've noticed some who had seen it, but not given up chicken, trying to justify this by saying that the Autralian chicken industry is not as hardcore, or cruel on the same scale as in the UK.


People like to comfort themselves with that thought, but in reality it's completely untrue. The Aussie industry operates very similarly to what happens in the UK.

The Australian Chicken Meat Federation released a statement (http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/15491/chicken-farmers-react-against-celebrity-chef-show) late last week just before the Jamie Oliver show was aired preying on this belief, and attempting to pacify the public and sway them into believing that the Aussie industry is not as cruel by saying that 'no meat chicken is ever raised in a cage'.

Well technically speaking, this is true because broiler chickens, which are the ones raised for meat are not kept in cages.

However, what the ACMF are not admitting to the public, is even though they are not kept in cages (like layer hens...the ones that produce eggs), broiler hens are still subjected to horrific cruelty by living in cramped, disgusting and unhumane conditions in sheds where they are packed in so tightly, they may as well be living in a cage.



Here is some info specific to the Australian industry that I hope you find useful.

Animals Australia, broiler chickens factsheet (http://www.animalsaustralia.org/factsheets/broiler_chickens.php)

Layer hens (caged hens) info (http://www.freebetty.com/cage_eggs.php)

Animal Liberation - broiler hen info (http://www.animal-lib.org.au/subjects/subjects/broiler-chickens.htm)

Animal Liberation - battery chickens (http://www.animal-lib.org.au/subjects/subjects/chickens--battery.htm)

NoCagedEggs.com (http://www.nocagedeggs.com/caged-eggs.htm)

Industry facts and figures - ACMF (http://www.chicken.org.au/page.php?id=4)