Ethical Foods Memo: Jamie Oliver vs. Sainsbury's: Grocer Says it Will Stop Selling Factory Farmed Chickens

Friend or Fowl? Yesterday, British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver was eating his humble pie after a terse phone conversation with Sainsbury's CEO Jason King. Oliver, who is the grocer's TV spokesman, apologized to King for 'biting the hand that feeds him' over a factory poultry farming debate flap. Oliver said he was sorry a second time, sending a letter to King after their phone conversation. Today, however, chef Oliver is feeling his oats--and not a humble pie can be found in the Oliver kitchen. Why? Yesterday, CEO King announced the grocer would stop selling factory farmed chickens in its stores. What's next?

Yesterday we wrote about the spat between British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and Britain's "big four" supermarket chains--Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda and Morrisons--over the refusal of the grocers to send representatives to debate Oliver about factory poultry farming on his TV program. (Read our Friday, Jan 11 story here.)

The internationally famous chef blasted the four leading supermarket retailers for not coming on the show. Oliver, who is the TV commercial pitchman for Sainsbury's, didn't spare his employer either.

Yesterday's version of this ongoing and increasingly dramatic story has oliver apologizing to Sainsbury's CEO Justin King over the telephone, and in a formal, follow-up letter he sent to the supermarket head a bit later.

Today, it seems that despite King's anger at Oliver for "biting the hand that feeds him" over the debate flap, the celebrity chef has had some major league influence on King--or perhaps with Sainsbury's customers, or both.

While being interviewed on the BBC's Today program yesterday, King announced Sainsbury's will eliminate the procuring and selling of all intensively or "factory farmed" chickens in all its stores. King also said the grocery chain will follow the UK's RSPCA organization's Freedom Food welfare standard for all broiler chickens.

The RSPCA is an organization which has set a series of humane welfare standards for raising and processing birds. These standards include: the prohibition of battery cages, strict limits on the density of the birds in cages, and making sure environmental enrichment is provided for the birds. Such environmental enrichment includes perches and playthings for the birds' stimulation and attentive behavior.

Further, the RSPCA standards call for the chickens to have a regular daytime and nightime, so that they're not kept awake artificially. This element goes with another standard, which is to not allow the birds to be fed around the clock, which some intensive or factory poultry farming operations do. This 24/7 feeding causes the birds to reach a mature weight prematurely.

King's announcement on the program yesterday sent shockwaves through the animal rights community, and suprised Sainsbury's rival supermarket chain CEO's.

Just the day before, the retailer ran full-page advertisements in the major London and suburban daily newspapers stating the grocer had nothing to be ashamed of in terms of the poultry it sells. The supermarket chain also sent letters to all of its loyalty card members. With this announcement coming the very next day, some are seeing it as an about face by the grocer.

Those shockwaves that rippled through the animal rights community in the UK were ones of joy however. The UK group Compassion in Farming called King's announcement a "major, ground-breaking step toward animal welfare."

Sainsbury's has already announced it's in the process of phasing-out the selling of eggs that come from caged hens. This announcement, that the grocer will follow RSPCA guidlines regarding the poultry it sells, should put a major focus on the issue and pressure Sainsbury's rival grocery chains to follow suit.

Sainsbury's CEO King did not announce a date on the radio program when the grocery chain would stop selling poulty that isn't raised and processed following RSPCA standards, and offer only those birds that do. The RSPCA organization has asked King to supply the group with that date.

A numer of industry observers in the UK say they believe Sainsbury's was planning on making this move for some time, but that the Oliver debate flap pushed the grocer's timetable up.

This might be true. However, if it is true, we believe it was a drastic advancement of that timetable. In fact, it looks like Jamie Oliver and his outburst was the catalyst that got CEO King to make the announcement yesterday.

Based on Sainsbury's new position on the factory poultry farming debate, and its phasing out of the sale of birds that don't meet RSPCA standards, we're leaning towards the opinion that Oliver just might remain the grocery chain's TV pitchman. After all, as of today both King, Oliver and Sainsbury's are now on the same page on the issue--and no TV debate was even needed. This story isn't over yet though. As they say on TV--stay tuned.

Resources:

>Read more about the RSPCA and its humane poultry program here.

>You can view the RSPCA website here.

>Read specifically about the RSPCA humane chicken campaign here.

>You can view Sainsbury's corporate website here.

>Read what the UK Soil Association (SA), an important agricultural-oriented group, says about the issue, and about organic and free-range chicken farming here.

Ethical Foods Memo: Jamie Oliver vs. Sainsbury's: The Apology

Friend or Fowl? After biting the hand that feeds him, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver says he's sorry to Sainsbury's CEO Jason King. Despite his apology--both in a phone call and letter to King--the miffed CEO isn't saying if the grocer will renew Oliver's contract and keep the famous chef around as its TV spokesman. As they say on TV--stay tuned.

On Monday in our feature Monday Morning Java we wrote about British celebrity chef and Sainsbury's supermarket chain TV pitchman Jamie Oliver's attack on his employer and Britain's other three-biggest supermarket chains--Tesco, Morrisons and Asda--for failing to accept his invitation to have representatives appear on his TV documentary about factory poultry farming. (Read our Monday piece here.)

Oliver literally gave the verbal equivalent of the single-finger bird salute to Britain's "big four" supermarket chains for not having spokespeople appear on his program to discuss and debate the issue with him, and answer why the chains' sell what is referred to in the UK as "battery birds." These are chickens raised in small cages and subject to what advocates say are cruel methods of slaughter.

Oliver told a number of London-based and other UK daily newspapers and broadcast TV stations he was "extremely upset" over the supermarket chains' not participating in a discussion and debate on his program. "I am really upset," Oliver told the London Daily Mail. "The question is, why didn't they come? What is there to hide?"

Oliver also singled-out his employer Sainsbury's for extra criticism. Of the supermarket chain, which pays the celebrity chef $1.2 million pounds annually for fronting its TV commercials, Oliver told the Daily Mail, "It's shocking that the people I work for didn't turn up (on his program). I just don't know why they didn't." He also had a few more choice words for the supermarket chain and the other three members of the British retail grocery "big four."

Sainsbury's did provide an executive from the company to Oliver's program to be interviewed on the factory poultry farming issue. The executive was interviewed by Oliver for the documentary. Oliver, however, also wanted the grocery chain--as well as the other retailers--to provide a representative to debate the issue after the program aired. The grocery chain declined to do so, saying they felt providing the spokesperson to be interviewed was sufficient.

At the end of our Monday Morning Java piece we asked the question: What will happen to the relationship between chef Oliver and Sainsbury's as a result of his criticism of the supermarket chain? We posed two scenarios: First, Would the grocer pull it's TV advertisements featuring Oliver as a result of the flap? And second, Would Oliver resign over principle or would Sainsbury's fire him?

We got our answer today. Neither of the above has happened--yet. Rather, Oliver seems to have headed things off at the poultry counter so to speak. According to a story in today's Guardian.co.uk, Oliver called Sainsbury's CEO Justin King, and after what the Guardian describes as a "terse conversation," Oliver apologized to King.

Oliver then followed up that rather tense phone conversation with a letter to King in which he formally apologized and said his remarks were "taken out of context." He also told King in the letter he was "incredibly upset" by the publicity, according to the Guardian report.

Sainsbury's has fought back against Oliver's comments. It ran full-page advertisements in yesterday's major UK newspapers, in which it stressed the quality of the poultry its stores sell, and stated it has nothing to be ashamed of in terms of the birds it sells. The grocer also sent letters to members of its loyalty card program proclaiming the same thing.

Factory poultry and egg farming is a big issue in the UK. Each of the "big four" British supermarket chains sells "free-range" birds and "cage-free" eggs in it's stores. All four however also sell chickens and eggs raised in the smaller cages. Each retailer has pledged to stop selling poultry and eggs raised in this manner over the next three to four years. British supermarket chain Waitrose and the UK Co-op chain have already stopped selling birds and eggs raised in the smaller cages.

Meanwhile, King isn't saying if the supermarket chain and Oliver have a future together. He refused to tell the Guardian if Sainsbury's will renew the celebrity chef's media contract.

There might be more reasons than one for this however: CEO King was already a bit miffed at Oliver for a couple reasons. First, his wife was spotted some time ago shopping at a rival Waitrose supermarket by members of the London press, who publicized her shopping trip (including pictures) and Oliver's relationship with Sainsbury's, which everybody who watches TV in Britain knows about.

Further, Sainsbury's management brain trust became rather miffed at the chef 18 months ago, when he said parents who give their kids "sugary crisps (cookies) and fizzy drinks" were "aresholes and tossers."

(for those not familar with British slang, a tosser has two meanings. One meaning--a person who does something stupid or behaves in a ridiculous way--has moved into the mainstream vernacular in Britain. For the original meaning of the word, you will have to look here. And of course, an "arsehole" is near-universal, with just some slight variations in spelling and pronunciation.)

Will Jamie Oliver lose his contract with Sainsbury's? The jury (in this case CEO King) is still out. Stay tuned.

Read the full story from today's Guardian.co.uk here.