Get stuffed, Tesco tells chef over £1.99 chicken

The supermarket giant accused the River Cottage broadcaster of not being "whiter than white" himself after he attacked Tesco for dropping the price of its " standard" chickens to £1.99.

Fearnley-Whittingstall, who last month highlighted the plight of mass-produced chickens in Channel 4 series Hugh's Chicken Run, said Tesco had broken a pledge not to initiate a chicken price war.

He said: "To launch a £1.99 chicken is in direct contradiction to a statement [chief executive] Terry Leahy made last summer when he said he did not want to get into a price war on chicken."

But Tesco said the five-day promotion was a commercial decision that would not compromise standards of welfare at suppliers' farms.

A source at Britain's biggest retailer of chickens also said the TV chef was guilty of double standards on welfare. "If he wants to interpret it as price war so be it.

"You have to bear in mind that Hugh failed the inspections from the Assured Food Standardswhen they came to inspect his farm before his TV programme. They found serious shortcomings. His farm was not a commercial entity in the sense that it would have been allowed to sell any chickens to any organisation, including Tesco." The source added: "He's not whiter than white on this."

In the Hugh's Chicken Run series Fearnley-Whittingstall created two chicken units in Devon, one an intensively reared farm and the other free range. The massproduced birds suffered high rates of defects such as leg burn and had to be culled in greater numbers.

However, David Clarke, chief executive of industry watchdog Assured Food Standards, said the make-shift farm failed on ventilation, pest control and record-keeping rules.

Tesco said its promotion aimed to help shoppers under pressure from rising bills. It was also doubling orders of free range and organic chickens reared to higher welfare standards. A spokesman added that sales of "standard chickens" were up five per cent on last year.

Other retailers said they did not expect to match Tesco's price. Asda said it had "no plans to follow suit with a silly four-day promotion".