i live on my own and carnt realy aford free range. but after hughs tv program i am not guna eat as much chicken. but when i do its guna b free range 100%. hugh is fantastic. iv allraedy gone on to free range eggs and i could not beleve the difrence in tast. fantastic. thank u hugh ur a gods gift thank u so very mutch. all his programs r fantastic

mr mark dixon, west yorkshire,

Thank you...

Zoe, Bristow, Virginia

The basis of this show was that no-one in the poultry trade would let Hugh film their operation. Interesting to find then, that Hugh filmed for three days in a large intensive production unit. This was left out of the film.

tom, newcastle,

Excellant shows well done Jamie & Hugh its about time humans started treating these animals with respect I can't afford to buy lots of exspencive meat but what I buy must have had a happy life so I buy less meat but bulk it with lots of vegtables my kids don't even notice and are healthy to boot

Jayne Darlington, Looe, Cornwall

I am from Germany and came to the UK 6 years ago. I was shocked by how little people knew about healthy eating here in the UK. In Gemany lots of campaigns started in the 80's and changed a lot, thanks to the media that showed many reports about inhumane living conditions for animals. We couldn't close our eyes and say we didn't know about all this cruelty.
Many people there buy organic or at least free range products. Even poor people have the choice and can decide wether to buy cheap things more often or to treat themselves not so often with a deliciously tasting organic or free range chicken they then can really enjoy. And in between one can eat more vegetables or fruits - its healthier anyway.
By buying the right things the consumers have much power to change things. In Germany the consumers have forced eg. the washing powder industry to produce phosphate-free powder by banishing products containing phosphate.

Thanks to this programme to let us see reality. Now it’s up to us!

Regine, Nantwich,

I have since eliminated chicken as well as other meats from my diet. I have not ate red meat since last year and not eaten chicken in a few weeks. Thank you guys for showing this on TV. In my local Tesco today the free range chicken was SOLD OUT. Bravo. Why do we NEED to eat chicken anyway, years ago it was a luxury. I eat vitamin supplements now which are CHEAPER than your meat for one meal. I am perfectly healthy and I can now stay healthy and slim thanks to eliminating animals from my diet.

Please if you wish to eat meat buy free range. I was always suspicious of cheap meat when I did eat it. Surely those battery chickens cannot be good for you when they are injected with all sorts.

Lyndsy , antrim, N. Ireland

Reply to Mike from Cardiff in his Tower Block.
I'm not middle Class, and the majority of the public arn't! Neither am I OXFORD (not oxbridge) or Eton educated, but as humans we have the ability to change our lives through FREE WILL. Like get a better paid job, move somewhere else, don't have kids until you can afford them- choices which will make our lives suit us. Chickens and animals in general dont have this option of free will and thats what Hugh was trying to get accross. Not a personal attack on the public. You as a human can get your opinion accross. Broiler chickens can't.

Stephanie, Purley on Thames, Reading , UK

Thank you Jaimie for the education and for voicing what we should all like to put forward.

Strength to your arm! Please keep it up.

Can we have a programme on British "rose" veal". We are virtual vegetarians, but we do eat chicken,and cheese, and we use milk. Perhaps we sould not be eating dairy produce at all?

More education would be good, especially applying Virtue Ethics to food.

Julie Trevithick, Newton Abbot,

Me and my daughter have watched Hugh and his chicken farming and we are watching Jamie Oliver entering a battery cage as i type, its horrific!
i am disgusted today while shopping in the local supermarket among the masses of numerous ranges of standard chickens i found it hard to find 2 free range chickens ( im hoping its a good thing as they have been sold). These creatures are living they are not machines.. show them some respect. Any person who can be connected to standard chickens and/or eggs should hang their heads in shame.
Keep going Hugh and Jamie, we are right behind you!

Tracey and Holly Smith, houghton le spring, tyne and wear

My name is Dawn and I live in southport, my family and I have watched hughs programme over the last 3 nights about say no to cheap chickens and we will never go back to eating cheap chicken again. I understand as good as anybody else how tight peoples budgets are but I am sure if everybody started to buy free range chickens the prices will come down. SO SAY NO TO CHEAP CHICKENS!!!!!!

Dawn, Southport, uk

DB georgia, if free range require more green spaces, yet chickens are woodland animals surely by replacing the huge concret sheds with trees and woodland actaully you will be offsetting carbon?

As America is one of the worlds worst poluters and you are an advocate of Human rights why not get rid of all the gas guzzlers, thus reducing the carbon foot print of the states and getting those 1 in 4 fatties in to shape!

In fact get them all jobs on free range farms rounding up chickens, Genius!

Pogo, Brighton ,

I'm on the band waggon with Free range too, I also watche Kill it, cook it, eat it last night and think that anybody who eats British Dairy has a duty to eat British 'rose' veal which is a natural by product of the dairy industry.

Does anybody know the best place to source this type of meat at a reasonable price? Ideally a supermarket so we can all get to it!

Pogo, Brighton ,

My name is Elin Rowlands, I am 13 years old and I live in Cardiff. For a couple of months now, i have stoppped eating standerd chicken, and only eat free range chicken. I find this very hard, because usually at home and in my friends and families houses i eat standered chicken. But i nower days refuse to eat anything but organic free range chicken. I also cannot eat chicken in school either now. Because of my belives i have managed to perswade my mother to buy free range chicken evrey time for our family.For all of you that are complaining you cannot affort it, well i'm sure you must have some serious debt problems and so on. But if you have alot of problems you must have bigger things on your mind than buying some decent chicken, and then cutting down a little. I agree strongly what what are doing, and I will help in any sort of way possible, also I am willing to help out on the programme aswell. I sincearly hope this letter will make a diffrence.

Elin Rowlands, Cardiff, Wales

Hugh,you have another convert!!
Never again will i buy any cheap chicken from my local Morrison supremarkrt,in fact i have just thrown away the two packs of cheap chicken that i had in my freezer.
I was aware that chickens were reared in this way,however actually seeing it has totally disgusted me . All this for the sake of saving a few pounds its abhorent!!!
Tomorrow i shall be going to my local farm shop to buy my chicken for my sunday lunch. Keep up your campaign ,im certainly behind you.
No more cheap chicken for me or my family.

Maggie,Nottingham.

margaret sharp, Nottingham, England

I need to buy halal chicken, and following your campaign am really keen to go free range, but do halal suppliers do free range??

Gill, Manchester, UK

Hugh,
Thank you for bringing this to the attention of the general public. I have long been a believer in quality and not quantity and try to buy free range and organic whenever I can. Having a chicken farm only a couple of miles away the flies in the summer are awful in our village. Not only this but the way the chickens are transported (whilst still alive) in cramped open crates through our village is barbaric. An extra £2 for for chicken which not only tastes better but has had good life and not been stressed is not alot. Just cutting down on the amount of meat we eat will not harm us.
Well done on an informative and well put together programme. It was not an easy watching programme but necessary.

Angela, Camborne, Cornwall

It makes me furious when I hear people whining that they can't afford to buy free range...and then you see them puffing on their ciggies and swilling back the Special VAT, not to mention throwing away half of their battery bird.
People CAN pay extra for a free range bird and make it go further - just use some common sense!!!

Cat, London, UK

Keith, France

I must have watched a different programme to you because I didn`t see anybody condemning mothers for not using free range chickens.
I got the impression he was trying to change government standards for the chickens welfare in the intensive farming side of production and the supermarkets attitude to producing a product not purely price driven whilst showing the consumer what goes into the farming of intensive chickens to enlighten and possibly alter their buying habits for the betterment of the chickens.
And the previous bandwagon the tv chefs jumped on was to get a better standard of childrens school meals and not ready meals which is another very worthwhile cause and one supported by most sensible minded parents who are concerned about what our children eat away from home. Me included !!

Sue, London, England

Every Monday morning, following my 'bargain Sainsbury chicken' that I would roast on a Sunday evening, I would have a 'sensitive stomach' (my polite way of saying 'the galloping trots!') and seeing the chickens in that disgusting breeding shed explained everything ........ chickens bred in filth pass on the sickness!! I will never, ever eat intensively farmed chicken again and I shall justify the extra cost of eating free range now by ensuring that I use ALL of the meat over 2 meals and making soup from the carcass. Thanks for having the guts to take on the big guys Hugh and exposing this shameful practice and I hope the government bans it!

Barbara, Torquay, UK

Hugh, You have converted me. After seeing the appalling
conditions those Battery Hens have to endure I couldn't
eat another chicken reared in that way. Your program had me
in tears.
Well done.
Geraldine.
Exeter, Devon

Geraldine Mortiboys, Exeter, Devon

Non-broiler chickens taste better anyway. Plus, I know plenty of people that claim not to be able to afford the £2-3 extra, but they will quite happily spend many times more than that at the pub on a Friday night.

The problem is the culture Britain has towards food in general. It is why our cuisine is rubbish.

Natalie, Hemel Hempstead,

Well-heeled, middle-class, Eton and Oxbridge-educated HF-W wants less-well-off families to pay more for what offends his sensibilities, eh? Try living on the minimum wage, bringing up a family, in a tower block, Hugh. I think it might open your eyes to human suffering. Get real!

Mike, Cardiff, Wales

I'm amazed that so many people have a problem with the premise of this programme; people getting riled because they're "too poor" to afford a couple of quid extra per chicken, talk of "vegetarian nazi's" (sic) and even someone claiming that chickens prefer battery conditions?!

If you want to eat chicken which has been raised inhumanely (i.e. most chicken), then that's up to you. If you genuinely don't care about the horrible lives you're inflicting on them, that's also up to you. But don't complain just because someone's opening your eyes to what you're doing!

Michael, Folkestone, UK

Keith in France. You obviously didnt see the programme as you would have been disgusted at how the battery chickens were kept. If anyone looked after a pet in this manner they would be prosecuted for cruelty to animals. And i say this as someone who eats 2 - 3 chicken breasts a day.

Alex, London,

My wife and I have found this program to be a real eye opener...

I always bought these cheap chickens the supermarket produced, but never really enjoyed the lifeless taste.

After seeing the conditions they are subjected too, Im not suprised they taste so bland.

As a Fitness Professional, I know exactly what happens to an indivudal if he / shes gains weight excessively fast whilst remaining inactive... they gain fat, retain too much water, and muscles decondtion and never truly develop. This is your typical Battery Hen.

Now the Free Range chicken would be equivalent to someone who leads a healthy, active life, with a good diet and exercise. That person would have strong muscles, and better conditioning. Now in relation to Free Range Chickens, this will simply provide a better quality meat, higher in Protein, less in fat and water retention, and ultimately a tastier dish.

For the little extra I will pay, I will never again eat a battery hen !

Stu, Cardiff, Wales

The last "bandwagon" onto which the tv chefs jumped, involved weaning families off ready meals. Now we have HFW condemning mothers who prepare a traditional roast, on the grounds that the roast is not free range. Where do we go from here? I for see the next programs condemning the free range roast because it contains meat!!

Keith Wilson, Beziers, France

I think Hugh has a lot of stamina to produce such an informative show, since watching this i have signed Hughs petition and added on my friends to the list, for a sake of an extra £2.00 each chicken its well worth it on an average we eat chicken once a week, just think what we are all eating those poor chickens hanging around in the dark in there own mess and smell do we all really want that on our dinner plate?Have an heart and also consider animal cruelty not our stomachs the supermarkets need to use other foods i.e tins if beans for price wars not animals,So please help Hugh and sign his petition just like i have and help these birds.I have enough room in my garden to have a few chickens and i am considering with my partner to give some a home and eat the lovely eggs they provide i had chickens when i was a girl they were good fun to watch, i must admit i couldnt keep the meat chickens as i would get to atteached.

pamela ganley, Stirlingshire, Scotland

There are a few misconceptions here. For a start, UK birds are NOT full of hormones or antibiotics to "make them grow faster". They grow that fast because they've been bred to grow that fast. The only drugs they're rountinely given are coccidiostats (to prevent parasite infections) and vaccines (e.g. against Salmonella - ever wondered why there are fewer Salmonella outbreaks these days? Thats because all UK birds are vaccinated against it!)

Another problem is in assessing the birds' welfare. I agree, the intensive conditions look awful (I prefer not to buy poultry reared in this way) and as a vet, think welfare is paramount. HOWEVER, all we can say is what WE think, and that may not be the same as what the birds think.
The classic example was wire mesh being used as flooring in battery cages. This was banned because it was "obviously cruel". BUT, a good study has proved when given the choice, chickens, even those reared in "better" conditions, actually preferred a wire mesh floor!

David, Birmingham, West Midlands

The whole concept of chicken welfare is a little hypocritical don't you think? What was the programme trying to say?

"It's so sad to see these poor litle chicks with no sunlight, but look at these happy, healthy ones that we're going to fatten up then slaughter for us to feed on!"

Or maybe it was:

"We may kill animals to eat, but it's the standard of life the animal has before we kill it that counts"

Say's who? The chickens? I'm sure they'd agree entirely with being slaughtered for food as long as they've had a good life!

I'm not a vegetarian, and don't like to see animal cruelty of any kind, but cannot really back the animal welfare argument for us then to kill and eat them.

alisdair mcgregor, harrogate,

Thank you so much Hugh for this fantastic documentary, I am a free ranger chicken buyer and this programme reinforced my thinking further. In fact I phoned many of my contacts to watch and find out the reality about mass produced chickens. Shame that non of the supermarkets participated, I guess they are only interested at increasing their profit margin.

H.Marph, LONDON,

Whilst I believe in the premis of HFW's Chicken Run show, lets not forget that it is a "TV Show".

Sadly about 1600 chickens were used in an experiment to show us how bad supermarket chicken rearing is. That's 1600 too many in my book, just so HFW can make a point, gain that sort of Jamie Oliver fame, and get a big fat cheque to boot.

He managed to shed a few tears over a couple of chickens that he had to personally destroy, in front of the cameras. Oh my! Will he do the same the next time he chucks a live lobster into boiling water on the telly? Course not.

Sorry Hugh, but you just lost a fan tonight. You proved that your not really a genuine Farmer after all. When all is said and done, your just another TV personality trying on a new angle.

Sally, Looe, Cornwall, UK

I totally disagree with Tasneem. I'm muslim myself and I'm utterly disgusted by the way chickens are reared. This is in fact against Islam and thus making the haram as pointed out by Liz.

Sam, Glasgow

Samia Ali, Glasgow, Glasgow

Greatly amused to see the grossly overweight "poor single mum" complaining to fearnley-gotitall about not being able to afford a free-ranging fowl. Obviously not so poor as to make two of me though! She must have been over twenty stone. Eat less, eat better! One six quid chicken is better for you than four three quid fowls. Not because the meat is magical, because you would be eating less!
I eat free-ranging fowls and can taste the difference between them and the dreadful jelly-like broiler meat. The legs on broilers are pathetic, healthy chicken legs have firm meat and strong thick bones.
You vegeterian nazi`s dont lecture me, you arent in charge yet.

Ian, Manchester,

Thanks hugh after watching your program on free range chickens and the way battery chickens where kepped in i now have STOP buying chickens and only buy free range chickens and eggs from now on
BIG THANK U HUGH .........

GARY BEHAN, harleston, s norfolk

thank you so much hugh for high-lighting the dreadful conditions that battery chickens are kept in. we have been telling everyone to watch your excellent programmes.
we only ever eat farm reared chickens ie willow farm in kent
keep up the campaign, every animal has the right to a decent life however long.

M. Aldridge , sheerness kent, UK

Bulgaria, I'm afraid, is a bit of a foodie nightmare. I haven't done any research into how the chicken available here is reared, but I just know from the flavour and texture of the meat that the birds have not had a happy life.

Nick O, Varna,

DB, Cumming, I read that too. It's open to challenge however, firstly on the grounds that it's never wise to trust any "scientific" report without first checking who funded it - the factory meat industry are not uninvested in outcome. Secondly, well managed organic flocks are housed in woodlands and meadows - the preservation and stewardship of which are a conservationist's dream. A concrete and steel barn is not better for the environment than an organic meadow or a wood. Thirdly, to say animals should suffer horrendously because we trash the planet is morally questionable. Finally, it's all a moot point anyway - really hardcore greens would go vegetarian, because meat consumption is all far worse for the environment than vegetable. Period.

I plan to keep eating meat. I just plan to show some respect for the animal, before slaughter. And some respect for my tastebuds, too - I converted my family after cooking chicken casseroles, one with organic and one with a factory bird.

Kate Lee, London, UK

some interesting information in a recent article in Forbes magazine. It says that free range poultry actually has a far greater impact on global warming than cage or battery housing. The actual impact is 10% also going organic for poultry has a 40% greater impact on global warming than traditional poultry houses. This is due to the greater need for greenspace by organic and free range poultry.

DB, cumming, georgia

I think the fact that poultry farmers won't allow anyone into their sheds says it all. If the general Public were properly informed of the true conditions suffered by battery hens and broilers they would only ever buy free range. I think every egg box or chicken wrapper supplied should show pictures of these birds' cruel and inhumane living conditions, see how many of these eggs/chickens the supermarkets then sell. The government regulations actually condone this treatment of hens and allows supermarkets to hide behind them. We keep ex battery hens as pets and everyone that saw the state of them when rescued was very, very upset. Torturing hens by calling this 'Farming' is barbaric, I thought we were supposed to be a civilised nation. Animals and birds have a right to live good lives, with freedom, we should value what they provide for us. If people treat pets like this, they are quite rightly punished, the same should be true for the governmen who has dereed this treatment is fine.

Jeanette Pearson, Bristol, uk

I think the old adge that 'you get what you pay for' is so true with buying food. I'm amazed that people will spend so little on food when they shop ,buying the cheapest items without thinking to themselves 'why is this so cheap?' it is so obvious that corners are cut and suppliers are pressured to achieved such cut prices, morally wrong in itself - yet far worse is the obvious question: what is more important than the quality of the food that one puts into oneself? or worse still ones family?

Food is much cheaper than it used to be anyway, taking up less of the family income and yet people will cut corners on their shopping but happily pay for luxuries like TV channel rental, mobile phone texts and any number of other non-vital treats.

We buy organic - our shopping is more expensive each week, but like I said - what is more important to ones well being that what you eat?

Jamie may not be a saint or have his own agenda, but his POV is valid all the same! Go guy!

James Curtis, Southend - on Sea,

i agree with kate lee, i do not wish to contribute to animal misery and only ever buy free range chicken and eggs- by the by- why do humans assume they have a "right" to kill animals for food?

peter codner, devizes, england

I'm looking forward to this programme; there are so few factual programmes on TV about how our food is produced; in 20 years, I've come across just one which went behind the scenes at an abattoir! Conversely, one can regularly happen upon any number of programmes on any other subject imaginable.

It took me over 30 years to make a firm decision to stop eating the more obviously sentient animals and I'm still eating fish. So if this programme gets behind the scenes and shows a few horrors, it'll be a good thing (though that's not its aim) - whether it leads to more people giving up more meat, or simply enhances these creature's lives prior to slaughter.

What will be better though is if it encourages more TV investigations into the livestock industry; surely our children should have easy access to a basic knowledge of how their food is produced so that they have the chance to make an informed (and perhaps more resilient) decision about what they wish to consume during their lives?

Gordon Panther, Milton Keynes, Bucks

Slating Jamie, the supermarkets and the farmers is all very well but we are looking at the wrong target, our government dictates the living conditions of farmed birds, and the supermarkets legitimatley hide behind these laws. The laws are made by people who have never seen a battery hen farm, if they had they could surely not in their right minds condone such treatment?

Jamie has the right idea, informing the general public is the ONLY way we can stop this legitimised torture. It is up to us, the public, to force our government to ban battery hen/barn broiler 'farming'

Jeanette Pearson, Bristol, uk

It's interesting that DB claims to be concerned about feeding the world when in Georgia one in four people are obese. Intensively-reared chicken may be cheap to produce in the short term but we're all paying all sorts of hidden costs for this sort of food, not least in higher health care bills for people who overeat.

Jeannine McAndrew, Colchester, England

It's extremely annoying that it's practically impossible to buy a whole free-range chicken at Sainsburys (in fact, until I read this article, I didn't know they were even sold there), as the only choice always seems to be between a yellowing anaemic battery chicken and an organic, taste-the-difference "West Country-reared" one. I don't want either of these. I just want a free-range chicken at a reasonable price. Why is that so hard for Sainsburys to provide?

Lauren, Manchester,

DB, cumming, georgia - I'm glad you are such a humanitarian and care so much about humans. I'm sure all your charitable work and donations are valued and helpful. However, I'm not sure why you think it's an either/or situation. Why is wanting an animal to have a decent life before slaughter in some way evidence that people don't care about other humans, or think they're more important than animals?

I enjoy meat a lot, and have no qualms in eating it - we're omnivores, after all. But it's a luxury. Meat always is a luxury; all energy comes from the sun and therefore the best way to feed the world is if everyone were vegetarian. That's really cheap protein.

I don't think eating meat is wrong. Keeping animals - living, sensate creatures, whatever you prefer to think - in concentration camps is. It's against all morality and common sense. Cheap meat is vile - so full of drugs, water, antibiotics, growth hormones and God knows what. There's nothing "wholesome" about dirt-cheap meat.

Kate Lee, London, UK

what a croc!!! here again folks so concerned about the poor chicken and how he lives!! giving it a CD to peck at...how ridiculous.....animals more important than people or perhaps in their eyes as important as people....we should grow more chickens in the chicken barns and try to feed the world this cheap, wholesome protein and quit worrying about if the chicken can run and have a CD to peck at!! I have worked with free range poultry and they are more disease infested due to drinking from waterholes contaminated by manure, etc. Wake up people!!

DB, cumming, georgia

It beggars belief that in the twenty first century broiler chicken should be subject to such appalling exploitation. And for those who eat these birds - have you thought how long they spend sitting (their legs are not as strong as a healthy animal's should be) in their own dung?

Rosemary Marshall, East Claydon,, Bucks

I'm all too aware of how battery chickens are treated. We re-homed 4 ex battery hens in October this year and they were in a pitiful state. We're nursing them back to full health with TLC and they are now free ranging for the first time in their lives and repaying us with loads of eggs.

We still eat free range chicken breast and products containing free range eggs only and it doesn't break the bank. Even if you buy free range eggs, any pre-prepared foods you buy containing egg (like mayonaisse or cakes) are made with battery hen eggs, unless it specifically states 'free range egg'.

Free range chicken breast isn't pumped full of water so we tend to use less of it anyway, so it's more economical than you think.

If you'd seen the life these poor things have and you have a conscience, you'd be more discriminating about what you buy.

Justine, Cheshire, England

Hey don't cite the nays sayers as animal welfare groups. Bother to know what you are spouting and call the "groups" animal rights groups (nutbars all) as they should be labelled. Give the chickens "something to do" is such anthromorphobic comedy. How about continuing education classes to help them make wise choices about crossing the road.

Douglas, Calgary, Canada

I, like Furrer Helen, also only buy meat when I can be sure of its origins and as such, tend to eat it 2-3 times a week. As someone who tends to be anaemic I have to make sure I get enough red meat but to be honest I don't think I've ever been healthier.

If chickens are normally supposed to live for around 11 weeks I am quite sure I do not want to eat one which has been feed hormones and other chemicals to make it grow faster, because all that fat and all those chemicals go into us.

In response to IT,as Jamie said, he isn't trying to sound 'elite' but actually make a reasonable suggestion, and well, from working within Sainsbury's maybe he has more clout.

Either way, after the recent milk scandals and the £2 chicken I think people should really start thinking about where their food comes from and ask just how it is possible for the farmer to make a profit nowadays.

Becca, Bath,

I agee . In theory that is. I don't really have the money for that tasty £ 12 chicken..... I believe we should require all the normal farms to provide better conditions for the animals, and meet halfway.

Juma, london, uk

For many years now I have been eating meat only when I could be sure ,that it comes from a decent reared animal, so many of my aquaintances believe that I am a vegetarian. So once we were invited at a friends who know that I eat only organically reared meat and they told us that I could easily eat their chicken dish because it was "bud" meat ( the bud being here in Switzerland the sign for certified organic meat). But sadly when eating their speciality dish with chicken breast I could tell from the size of the breast that they did not tell the truth. Organic chicken tend to be smaller than the intensively reared. If a chicken dish is heavily seasoned you can`t tell the difference in the taste.
If people were willing to eat a little less meat, many could afford to eat the better reared.And free range chicken meat has a healthy rather than a unhealthy cholesterol content, because of what the chicken ate during his happy life.

Furrer Helen, Winterthur, Switzerland

I also am sceptical (particularly in Malaysia) about organic labelling.

I'm surprised, however, that Tasneem's unconcerned about how an animal was reared so long as it's slaughtered in a halal manner.

The mistreatment of animals is haram. The preslaughter treatment of animals should therefore be of concern to Muslims. I assume the same is true in Judaism.

Modern rearing methods have made meat incredibly cheap, leading to unhealthy overconsumption. f we limited our consumption of meat to 2-3 times a week, instead of 7 times, we could afford organic meat.

Liz, Kuala Lumpur,

Another headline grabbing stunt by Oliver. He is paid a fortune by a supermarket that sells cheap chickens, along with other mediocre quality food. How can he take money from them and yet spout off about trying to improve the quality of food. As far as I can see he has done nothing to improve the quality of food at that supermarket. All that has happened is the marketing men and Oliver have been able to launch a supposed "taste the difference" range for which they charge us even more money than for the usual rubbish they provide

So it all sounds rather hollow and just another way to be "seen" as a food vigilante so that he can get paid even more money.

The true champion of food and someone who has been trying to get us to eat better chickens is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Oliver is just piggy-backing on the work he has already done. Pucka - not quite just in it for the money more like!

IT, Surrey,

Sadly I feel that Jamie Oliver may be a hypocrite.
When his foundation bussed in would be apprentices (turning around disadvantaged kids) for interview at Cornwall15 (cut price lunch £18 !! )there were no seats for the interviewees to perch on although some had to wait 3 hours.Lunch was ,I understand, 2 packets of biscuits and cartons of Orange!!

Jim Rea , Launceston, cornwall

Jamie, you are by far the greatest thing that ever happend to English fayre.

Jane, Leeds.,

When someone like me is restricted to Kosher or Halal meat we don't know (and rarely ask) where the animal comes from or how it is reared. There is so much importance on how the animal is slaughtered that the rest is forgotten.

However it makes it simpler because we don't have to worry about supermarket business models at the expense of their suppliers.

Chicken eggs are something that I do buy from the supermarkets and I buy eggs from caged birds because I am sceptical about free range. I don't have the resources to check if the farm it came from is what it says it is. If they admit its caged, in my opinion it is honest, not a marketing campaign and people can make that informed choice.

Thinking about it now, the fact that I am not so concerned about my meat's former life style affects my attitude on eggs.

tasneem, Barking,