‘Chickens bred for meat face crueller conditions than battery hens’

CHICKENS bred for their meat face even more cruel conditions than battery hens under new EU rules, animal welfare campaigners said yesterday.

The RSPCA said it is "concerned and alarmed" that proposed EU legislation published yesterday the first in the history of farming to set standards for the welfare of all chickens bred for meat misses an opportunity for real welfare improvements.

The planned directive allows producers, subject to fulfilling some basic criteria, to allocate each chicken in their shed only 526 square centimetres, less space than an A4 piece of paper.