The Devonshire Red Chicken
Chicken as it should be
Home » Devonshire Red News » Dr News Archive » Welfare Award
Customers scoop top animal welfare awards
Tuesday 16 October 2007
The welfare credentials of West Country produced Devonshire Red chicken have helped two leading firms achieve top honours at the RSPCA Good Business Awards.
Devonshire Red organic chicken is listed by Abel & Cole, the online organic grocery retailer which picked up the RSPCA's top award in the Food Retailer category, whilst ethical fast food chain Leon Restaurants, which serves Devonshire Red free range chicken on its menus, got the overall accolade in the Restaurant Chain category.
The Devonshire Red is poultry producer Lloyd Maunder's brand for its higher welfare chicken products, which now represent 60 per cent of the company's total output.
"We're really proud to supply such animal welfare champions," says Andrew Maunder, commercial director of Lloyd Maunder. "Both are great customers and it's good to see them going from strength to strength."
The awards ceremony at the Natural History Museum revealed the top animal welfare achievers in the fields of food, fashion and beauty. Entries were judged by independent experts, based on criteria set by the world's oldest and largest animal welfare charity.
Journalist and broadcaster Richard Johnson, who hosted the awards and was one of the judges, said "Animal welfare is integral to Leon's ethos and its good intent is clear. Its eight London restaurants currently serve around 12000 people a week and the clincher was not only is it serving well sourced food, but is also marketing a message of high welfare meat, eggs and dairy produce."
About Abel and Cole, food industry consultant and award judge Dr Geoff Spriegel said, "Abel & Cole's quantified data, covering matters such as origin and travel times to slaughter, was excellent, as are the supplier links on its website and information on slow growing farm animal breeds. By taking such great steps to promote animal welfare it proved a clear winner."
Devonshire Red chicken is reared only on family-run farms in the West Country, in three high welfare systems - organic and free range, plus corn fed which is reared indoors to RSPCA Freedom Food standards. It is retailed nationally via major supermarkets as well as Lloyd Maunders own chain of 15 high street butchers shops in the West Country.
For more information about the Devonshire Red visit www.devonshirered.co.uk. For more information about the RSPCA Good Business Awards visit www.rspcagoodbusinessawards.com.
For more press information contact Veronica Newport on 01363 866927 or email veronica@n-pr.co.uk.