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

A significant amount of chicken in the UK now comes from intensive farms in Thailand and Brazil. The farming styles that produce chickens in a short space of time in cramped conditions have been exported to developing countries, largely to supply the West.

Brazillian birds

Three-quarters of Co-op sandwiches contain Brazilian chicken (the other quarter is British), and all the chicken in Boots and Pret sandwiches is from Brazil. However Pret say they decided to source chicken from Brazil some time ago thinking that conditions on the farms they chose were better than those in the UK for the same standard birds.

Tesco uses chicken from the UK, EU and Thailand. Sainsbury’s currently uses both British and Thai chicken, the Taste the Difference range uses only British chicken and they are aiming to expand this in all their sandwiches by the end of 2008. Waitrose use only British chicken from known and approved farms, while Gregg's use mainly British, but also chicken from the EU and Brazil. Subway uses chicken from the EU and South America.

Should buyer beware?

Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) [http://www.ciwf.org.uk/] is reluctant to say whether or not a concerned consumer should particularly avoid or choose the birds from Thailand or Brazil. Like the majority of UK chicken production – it’s intensively reared. Even if you decide that you’d rather eat chicken from the UK rather than Brazil or Thailand, you can’t always make this choice because it’s not mandatory to label which country the chicken meat comes from.

If you can’t find free range chicken in your favourite sandwich bar or supermarket CIWF suggest you 'write to them to ask for it!’. And if you don’t want to go hungry in the process there's a similar switch. Eggs in sandwiches from almost every high street retailer are now free-range.

Do you ask about organic or free-range chicken when you're eating out? Have your say in the user comments below