Bartter, La Ionica producer Turi Foods, and the Australian Chicken Meat Federation to the Federal Court — alleging misleading or deceptive advertising related to claims about the treatment of chickens raised for meat.

The four defendants have over the past several years used the claim that chickens raised for chicken meat are 'free roaming' or 'free to roam in large barns' in their advertising, on product packaging and/or websites — giving consumers the false impression that factory farmed chickens are afforded substantial space allowing them to roam freely. But the ACCC alleges that the population density of meat chickens raised in barns preclude such movement.

BREAKING NEWS: 14 September: After charges were laid against Steggles, fast food giant KFC (which sources large numbers of chickens from Steggles) has pulled "free to roam" claims from its website. Read more... 

For the vast majority of their lives, these birds have less space to themselves than an A4 sized piece of paper. The birds' ability to move is also restricted by their unnatural growth rate — three times faster than natural — which makes their bodies so heavy as they get older that many struggle to move to reach for food and water. Others suffer heart failure as their hearts struggle to cope under the pressure of their overweight bodies.

Twenty million chickens die in these conditions each year. READ MORE