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• Clipping - Driving the campaign to get better welfare for chickens
• Clipping - Supermarket policies

The call comes after poultry welfare became a hot topic following television programmes from celebrity chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver this week.

Both used their latest shows to call on farmers and supermarkets to increase the welfare standards of chickens reared for meat and eggs.

In response to the shows, supermarket giant Sainsbury's announced its decision to phase out standard chicken and replace it with poultry produced to the RSPCA's Freedom Food standards.

Freedom Food is accredited and inspected by the RSPCA and sees slow-growing chickens reared indoors in an enriched environment.

By the end of this year, 18 per cent of Sainsbury's fresh chicken will meet the improved standards and it is hoping to apply that to all fresh poultry in the future.

A spokesperson said: “Sainsbury is committed to constantly improving animal welfare standards and offering their customers choice.

“Our aim is to achieve the RSPCA Freedom Food Standard as a minimum requirement across all fresh poultry.”

Morrisons also announced that it would be looking to expand its current range of Freedom Foods, while the Co-Op has said it will stop selling eggs produced from caged hens.

The moves would see many poultry farmers de-intensify, forcing them to keep fewer birds or expand their sheds to accommodate the new conditions.

But industry leaders have warned that unless prices improve, farmers will be unable to adapt their working practices to meet the demand.

It is estimated that to convert a standard 100,000-bird poultry unit to Freedom Food standards would cost up to £60,000 and with producers already on tight margins there are fears that many will not be able to afford the improvements.

Charles Bourns, NFU poultry council chairman, called on the supermarkets to provide the investment so farmers could adapt to meet their demands.

“The thing we have to ask as producers is where is the money coming from?” he said.

“It's not impossible to adapt, but because of the high feed prices we are not even making 3 pence per chicken at the moment and a lot of farmers are losing money.

“So they won't have the money to invest to introduce the kind of standards people are calling for unless the prices go up.

“What we have to be aware of is that if we try to do this and we can't meet the demand for cheap food, then we will end up exporting the industry.

“Cheap chicken and eggs will start being imported to meet the demand and that is a major worry.”

The campaigns received a mixed reaction from the public this week, with some consumers saying that although they would like to buy free-range and organic produce, it is simply not within their budget.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall called on the public to buy free-range or organic, but Jamie Oliver took a different stance, calling for a new, basic chicken product produced to higher welfare standards and sold at affordable prices.

His approach was welcomed by Andrew Maunder, commercial director of one of the UK's largest poultry producers, Lloyd Maunder.

He said: “A Freedom Food chicken only costs around a pound more than a standard chicken, which means people who buy it can have peace of mind without breaking the bank.

“As a producer we want to see higher welfare become an integral part of poultry production in the UK, but consumers and their purchasing choices control the market.

“If they change how they buy chicken, we'll be able to change how we produce chicken.”