Latest features What’s in your sandwich?

Date Published:

04/01/2008

Is your lunch free-range? Sue Todd investigates the chicken in your shop-bought chicken sandwich to find out how ethical the high street is

If you're concerned about the conditions that chickens suffer in the production of your food you may have started buying free-range chicken to cook at home. But have you considered how much factory-farmed chicken you might still be eating in your shop-bought lunchtime sarnie?

The UK spent more than £4 billion on pre-prepared sandwiches last year and although we’re paying more for top end rolls, baguettes and paninis with options of high quality ingredients, you won’t find it easy to buy one made with free-range or organic chicken. Aside from farmers' markets and wholefood shops like Fresh & Wild, it's hard to find major high street retailers offering the choice of free-range chicken in their sandwiches.

M&S go free-range

Last year Marks & Spencer launched an organic roast chicken sandwich, retailing at £3.25. And where M&S leads, others tend to follow. In the next few months, two more retailers want to start offering more ethical choices in their 'grab-and-go' food.

Pret and the Co-op

After a survey of its members reaffirmed the importance of animal welfare to the company, the Co-op will launch two sandwiches containing chicken reared to the RSPCA Freedom Foods standards in March 2008. The price is expected to be £2.50 - the same price as its current chicken sandwich.

Pret a Manger, which already uses organic chicken in its sandwiches in the US, is planning to trial free-range chicken options in some of its UK shops in February. Providing the public are willing around £3.25/£3.50 for a sandwich, Pret wants to move to 100% free-range chicken. But even if the trial is successful, Simon Hargraves of Pret explained that sufficient availability of UK free range chicken is a problem arguing that not enough UK farmers are rearing free-range or organic chickens, and most of what is produced is sold to the supermarkets with big buying power.

Consumer power

But it's customer buying power that will push free-range onto the high street. According to David Bird, an analyst at research company Mintel, while free-range isn’t a big issue in the sandwiches market yet, demand will increase. "Consumers think more about ethical issues when buying actual meat – for example, a whole chicken – but less so when buying a sandwich or ready meal. It's inevitable though that the big consumer trend of concern about ethical sourcing and provenance will slowly move into sandwiches and other areas."