Freedom Food Response to Channel 5/Sky News Coverage

Freedom Food Response to Channel 5/Sky News Coverage – Dinmoss and Strathruddie

The RSPCA and Freedom Food take any breaches of RSPCA welfare standards very seriously indeed. Within hours of receiving visual evidence from Channel 5 of apparent non-compliances on the farms in question, they were suspended pending further investigation.

Inspections that evening revealed that there was a non-compliance on one farm for the presence of wire above the feeders that was capable of being electrified. Serious concerns about compliance were raised at the other farm relating to range management immediately outside the popholes. 

However, the Channel 5 programme aired on Wednesday October 6th focused, in the main, on issues that were not due to non-compliance and that were in many cases presented without proper context.

Disease: whilst disease was mentioned in the introduction to the piece, no expert opinion was included from a poultry vet. In fact, our investigation found that the birds in question were under veterinary supervision for an outbreak of Erysipelas.  This disease can unfortunately cause high levels of mortality as well as feather loss.  
It is a reality of farming that animals might fall sick or suffer from injury now and again, just as it is with humans or other animals. In this case, the correct action had been taken by the farm in terms of seeking veterinary input and supervision, in line with RSPCA welfare standards.

Whilst clearly views of any flock with disease problems can be upsetting, the broadcast made no attempt to provide the full context of the situation.

Dead birds: again, these scenes are understandably potentially upsetting for viewers, but were also presented without full information. Where a flock is suffering from Erysipelas it can be expected that some birds might sadly die. While it is a requirement of the RSPCA welfare standards that flocks are inspected at least three times a day,  these inspections do not take place  at night when the birds are resting, so any dead birds from overnight would be collected in the first morning inspection.

Use of the range: The commentary accompanying the view from inside the house stated that most of the birds did not seem to be encouraged to use the range.  RSPCA welfare standards require specific dimensions and numbers of popholes and range enrichment.  While there are concerns about the range quality immediately around the house, the footage clearly showed both of these requirements were met, with open popholes, shelters, trees and grass cover further out.  The commentary also failed to consider any information about how hens will use the range in varying amounts at different times of day and in different weather conditions. 

Provision of information by Channel 5 and Viva: The RSPCA and Freedom Food were first notified of alleged welfare breaches on Friday October 1st. Footage was not supplied to allow us to verify whether or not there were welfare breaches and what the extent of these breaches might be until 2.00 pm on Tuesday October 5th, despite repeated requests to receive it as soon as possible.  This footage when it arrived was incomplete and further footage from filming in July was sent to us on the day of the broadcast (October 6th) giving no time to properly assess and respond.  Furthermore, significant footage relating to night filming in September, which was aired in the piece, was withheld.

Had we been provided with all the footage with sufficient time to properly review and investigate we would have been able to put many of the issues raised by the footage into a proper context and thus potentially prevent the broadcast from misleading viewers.

Viva

We are also extremely concerned that if Viva had footage that demonstrated a problem as far back as July, then it should have been reported immediately so that the appropriate action could have been taken. It is disturbing that this information was withheld when there was potential for on-going suffering.

As a result of the issues raised above and the manner in which Channel 5 provided evidence, Freedom Food are seeking legal advice.