THE SHOCKING PAST CASES

THIS is not the first time campaigners have exposed conditions inside Britain’s chicken farms. Other cases include: Sunny Farm, Swineshead, Bedfordshire: Welfare campaigners released alarming images of chickens behind bars, some stripped of feathers and others distressed or dying at the farm producing eggs under the ‘British Lion’ quality banner.

The images were taken by Viva campaigners in March 2016. The farmer admitted failings and British Lion chiefs sent in auditors to carry out welfare checks.

Happy Egg: Britain’s most popular free-range egg brand faced criticism after it emerged in October it kept as many as four million

caged hens. And undercover footage allegedly showed chicks being ‘mutilated’ in a company hatchery in Germany.

The footage showed chicks having the tips of their beaks burnt off, the Sunday Times reported last week. Rowbottom Farm, Spalding, Lincolnshire: Footage of malnourished and dying chickens was released by campaign group Viva in August 2016.

Some of the 16,000 birds at the farm lived in conditions Viva said were among the worst it had seen. Some were shown with extensive feather loss exposing red raw skin. The farm said its eggs were produced to strict government and EU regulation.