Jamie attacks Red Tractor British chicken

JAMIE Oliver has risked the wrath of Britain’s farmers by saying he would not feed his children chicken with the Red Tractor logo on it.

The Assured Food Standards label is used by 78,000 farmers and the farming industry says it means food has met ‘ robust and responsible’ production standards.

The celebrity cook’s TV show, Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast on Channel 4, showed footage of chickens being reared in a large shed. His co-host, farmer Jimmy Doherty said: ‘Most of these birds never go outside and have little space to move about.’

Oliver, a father of five, added: ‘Chickens are bred to grow fast with a high ratio of meat to bone, but this makes them heavy so they can struggle to walk... I think people would be shocked by the reality of what we are buying.’

When Doherty asked him: ‘You wouldn’t eat Red Tractor chicken?’ Oliver replied: ‘I personally wouldn’t feed it to my kids.’

Minette Batters, who last week became the first woman to run the National Farmers’ Union, said the logo ‘means we have the highest standards of food safety, of environmental protection’.