Meat and poultry is to go on sale for the first time in Britain next week with labels showing the animal welfare ranking of farms supplying the meat.

The rankings are said to be the toughest animal welfare ratings in the world and range from 1 to 5 on packs of beef, pork, lamb and chicken.

The scheme coincides with next week’s opening of Europe’s largest organic store, Whole Foods Market, on the site of the former Barkers of Kensington.

Prices may be higher than a typical High Street store but the main reason Whole Foods has chosen Britain for expansion is because shoppers are willing to pay a premium for high-quality organic, free-range or fair-trade products.

Some industry figures, however, are sceptical about the impact of Whole Foods. This week’s edition of Retail Week states: “Whole Foods is not going to have all its own way. UK grocers, notably Waitrose and M&S are much better at meeting the needs of ethical consumers than any of the rivals that Whole Foods has faced in the US, and they are considerably cheaper than Whole Foods too.”

The company is also attracting criticism in the US. Michael Pollan, of the University of Berkeley, branded John Mackey, the founder of Whole Foods, a hypocrite last year in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, saying that he used organic, locally produced food as a “window-dressing to help sell a much more ordinary industrial product”.

Nevertheless, a retail industry source in Britain confirmed that the arrival of the company was the talk of the High Street chains and that “dark suits would be hovering all over the store” when it opened on Wednesday.

The Institute for Grocery Distribution said that consumers would select organic and healthy products when they saw the range that was on offer. Compassion in World Farming said that the new welfare labels would lead to stricter rules for all UK farmers.

The “kindness” labels have been devised by Mr Mackey, who set up the company in the US 27 years ago, after recommendations from his Animal Compassion Foundation.

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