''Hugh's Chicken Run'' is a programme as part of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's 'Food Fight' series in which

celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall Hugh Christopher Edmund Fearnley-Whittingstall (born 14 January 1965) is an English celebrity chef, television personality, journalist, food writer, and campaigner on food and environmental issues. Fearnley-Whittingstall hosted the ''River Cot ...

launched the campaign to encourage more consumers to demand

free range Free range denotes a method of farming husbandry where the animals, for at least part of the day, can roam freely outdoors, rather than being confined in an enclosure for 24 hours each day. On many farms, the outdoors ranging area is fenced, ...

chicken. Fearnley-Whittingstall was joined on the campaign by fellow celebrity chef,

Jamie Oliver James Trevor Oliver MBE OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants. Oliver reache ...

, who chose to highlight the issues in the more graphic Jamie's Fowl Dinners. In the series, Fearnley-Whittingstall set about the highlighting the differences in standards by creating his own intensive and free range chicken farms; as well as mentoring a community project in

Axminster Axminster is a market town and civil parish on the eastern border of the county of Devon in England. It is from the county town of Exeter. The town is built on a hill overlooking the River Axe which heads towards the English Channel at Axmou ...

. Fearnley-Whittingstall heralded the campaign a success when he managed to get to the point where the majority of the whole fresh chicken consumed in the town of

was free range. Since then, the campaign has gone nationwide with 128,000 viewers having pledged on the campaign website to only buy free-range products. The programme has been linked with the large rise in free-range products, as well as the drop in demand for intensively reared products during January and February 2008. A poll carried out for the

RSPCA The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is a charity operating in England and Wales that promotes animal welfare. The RSPCA is funded primarily by voluntary donations. Founded in 1824, it is the oldest and largest an ...

, 73% of adults claim that they now only buy birds that have "higher welfare" conditions, such as the

freedom food Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving one ...

scheme,

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

References

External links

Website for the series
Channel 4 original programming 2008 British television series debuts 2008 British television series endings {{food-tv-prog-stub