Chicken

I don't know if I'm either intellectually or morally committed enough to have something as grand as an ethical system for food shopping. I do have a rough guide for non-taste/price decisions though. Mt Barker Chicken - chicken of choice here -ticks a few boxes justifying me digging a bit deeper into my pockets.

• local
  
• humane treatment of animals
  
• product as an end
  
• market diversity
  

I did have some reservations about their claim to being hormone and antibiotic free. Not that I thought that they weren't, but that they might be being cute as apparently it's illegal to use hormones on chickens in Australia. I sent them an e-mail asking them about this and here's part of their response.

In regards to your question the law states that: -

1.) It is illegal to use growth hormones or steroids in poultry, thus all chicken producers should not use them.
2.) Antibiotics may be used to treat sick chickens under veterinary supervision.

Mt Barker Free Range Chickens differ from standard chicken as extra time and effort are put into rearing the free-range chickens which we believe lowers disease and thus the need for antibiotics. Our chickens are NOT force-fed. They have 24-hour access to food and drink, which is checked several times a day.

I was impressed they responded, quickly and directly as this was my first concerned consumer letter. My hunch on this is that problems in food production comes when industrialised answers (antibiotics) are used to solve problems of the producers making (crowded production). Mt Barker Chicken seems to have tried to jump out of this spiral even if it isn't the cheapest option. Good for them.

I don't think this is the final word on chicken but I might try and put the subject on the "to blog about" list.

DISCLAIMER: No they haven't sent me a years' supply of chicken.