ORGANIC chickens are being bred in conventional flocks, fed chemically treated feed and routinely given vaccinations, a Sunday Times investigation has found.

The chickens — sold in supermarkets at more than twice the price of conventional poultry — are being bred in windowless sheds and fed on a diet including nonorganic soya and fishmeal. Organic laying hens are kept in sheds containing up to 9,000 birds.

The industrialised production techniques raise new concerns about the practices of the poultry industry after the disclosure that the Bernard Matthews turkey farm at the centre of the avian flu outbreak was a haven for scavenging birds and rats.

“This is a sham,” said Ritchie Riggs, an organic poultry farmer and adviser to the Soil Association. “The big producers have got the standards altered to suit them. I don’t consider these chickens organic at all.”

Typical of the modern practices in the organic industry is a network of industrial-style hang-ars in the Shropshire countryside. They are used to rear thousands of hens kept for four months under artificial light.

They are vaccinated for diseases of intensive poultry production, kept in stocking densities of up to 14 birds per square metre and will be used to supply supermarkets with organic eggs, including Sainsbury’s So Organic Woodland eggs.

When these birds become economically viable and start laying eggs, they are moved around the country and “converted” to organic chickens.

The rearing of these flocks has little in common with the pictures of hens in sun-dappled woods that are used to market Sainsbury’s eggs.

Faced with growing demand from supermarkets, producers are using nonorganic methods. These include buying nonorganic chicks, extensive use of vaccinations, using up to 15% nonorganic feed and rearing hens in closed sheds until they are ready to lay. Some of the hens are being “beak-trimmed”, which some welfare experts consider mutilation.

The nonorganic practices are possible because of exemptions to the rules allowed by the organic certifying bodies, including the Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers (OFG), in the face of lobbying by supermarket producers.

The organic market has enjoyed a boom in recent years and is now worth more than £1.6 billion. The organic meat and poultry market is now worth about £129m and the organic egg market about £45m.

Organic chicken is sold in the supermarket at about £4.60 per kg, compared to £1.95 per kg for conventionally produced chicken. Organic eggs — which are meant to be free range and chemical free — are sold for about £1.65, compared to about 55p for conventional eggs.

Riggs, who rears organic poultry in Devon, said: “The market started growing and the big proc-essors starting looking around and saying, ‘Wait a minute, these old hippies are making money here’. They muscled in, elbowed everyone out the way and then got the standards altered to suit them.”

The European Union had ruled that the use of nonorganic chicks for organic meat production should be stopped in 2004, but agreed to extend the “derogation” after pressure from the larger producers. Similarly, the regulators rowed back over plans to ensure all feed should be organic by 2005 and to impose stricter limits on the numbers of livestock in each shed.

The Soil Association warned ministers that the concessions “betrayed” consumer trust in organic food.

As a result of the concessions, supermarket producers such as Deans Foods, which produces 3.6m organic eggs a week and supplies Tesco and Sainsbury’s, can source hens from conventional hatcheries, rear them in windowless sheds and give them up to 15% nonorganic feed.

The hundreds of thousands of male chicks hatched each month at the vast commercial hatcheries cannot be used. They are typically gassed on a “continuous flow” system with a mix of argon and carbon dioxide.

It is not just the egg industry that has embraced the derogations. While organic meat — such as lamb and pork — must be bred organically, chicken producers have been allowed to use nonorganic chicks from conventional flocks kept in sheds.

Lloyd Maunder, in Devon, which produces about 90,000 organic chickens a week and supplies Sainsbury’s, Budgens and Morrisons, said about 75% of its birds were bred in conventional flocks in windowless sheds. It said it wanted to ensure all its chickens were bred organically.

Annabel Kapp, 41, an artist who lives in London, is typical of a number of former vegetarians and nonmeat eaters who have been happy to start eating meat providing it is organic.

She said: “This is awful because how can you call a chicken organic unless you give it a completely organic diet?”

The row over organic standards is likely to intensify with some of the biggest poultry producers investing in organic operations. Bernard Matthews revealed before Christmas a “long-term plan to move into organic production”.

Robin Maynard, a Soil Association spokesman, said its rules were stricter than the EU regulations and it had been lobbying for more rigorous rules for organic production.

Many big poultry producers are using other certifying bodies, such as the OFG, which generally has less exacting rules than the Soil Association and also allows larger flock sizes.

Riggs has now launched a Campaign for Real Organic to alert consumers to the nonorganic practices (www.crop-uk.com ).

Sainsbury’s said all its laying hens were sourced from conventional flocks but were fed part-organic feed from when they were day-old chicks.

Additional reporting: Nic North

The choice

These are the main products on the shelves and the conditions the birds live in

CHICKENS

Conventional Up to 40,000 birds kept under artificial light in a closed shed. They are bred to reach slaughter weight within about 40 days.

They can be treated with antibiotics on veterinary advice and are routinely vaccinated. The cheapest table birds.

Free range Must have access to open-air runs that are covered with grass or other vegetation. Feed must contain at least 70% cereals. They can be given chemically treated feed and be treated with drugs.

Free-range corn-fed Reared as free range but are fed at least 50% maize, which gives the meat a golden colour.

Organic Chickens that have access to open-air runs and, where possible, are given 100% organic feed. Use of antibiotics and vaccinations is not meant to be allowed and they are kept in smaller flocks. They are the most expensive table chickens.

EGGS

Caged hens Kept in closed sheds with a floor space equivalent to an A4 piece of paper. More than 60% of the UK’s 30m hens are housed in the battery cage system.

Barn hens Kept in loose flocks confined within a shed. They are provided with perches, nestboxes and litter areas. Animal welfare groups compare conditions to a “crowded football terrace”.

Free range Kept in large sheds in flocks of up to 16,000. The birds have access to open-air range, may be “beak-trimmed” and can have chemically treated feed.

Organic Smaller flocks of up to 2,000 and should have access to open-air runs. They should be fed 100% organic feed, not be beak-trimmed or given routine vaccinations.

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