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Celebrity chefs to get RSPCA awards
source: The Press Association
1 day ago


Celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall are to receive awards for their animal welfare work.

The pair are being honoured at the RSPCA's annual meeting for their well-publicised efforts to improve chicken welfare in the UK.
At the beginning of the year, the Channel 4 programmes Jamie's Fowl Dinners and Hugh's Chicken Run highlighted the treatment of intensively farmed chickens.

Since then both chefs, particularly Fearnley-Whittingstall, have continued to campaign for producers and retailers to adhere to higher welfare standards.

RSPCA senior farm animal scientist Dr Marc Cooper said: "We are delighted to present both Hugh and Jamie with these awards in recognition of their valuable ongoing work in this area."

Chef and small-holder Fearnley-Whittingstall had urged Tesco to improve its chicken-rearing standards, and put forward a motion at its annual shareholders' meeting pressing for the change. But on Friday only 10% of shareholders in the retail giant backed his resolution. He had needed 75% backing for the motion to be passed.

Tesco had asked them to vote against the resolution as it it would mean restricting choice for customers by making chickens too expensive for them to buy.

In turn, the chef accused the supermarket of "moving the goalposts" to ensure his motion was defeated, and claimed the firm had "brought out the big guns" to crush the motion.

Other RSPCA award winners include Dr Arthur Lindley, the charity's former director of science, and Professor John Webster, a founding member of the Farm Animal Welfare Council.