Tesco has been accused of sending out confusing messages to consumers over its latest chicken pricing

strategy.

In a bid to appeal to shoppers on a tight budget, standard whole birds will be reduced to £1.99 from £3.30 for five days until 10 February. Tesco also announced this week that it had doubled its order for premium chicken, which encompasses free-range, Willow Farm, Finest and organic products.

"It's a confusing message that Tesco is putting out," said a Soil Association spokeswoman. "We welcome that they are selling more organic, but we don't think £1.99 is a sustainable price to pay for standard chickens. Supermarkets have a big responsibility here."

The spokeswoman added that shoppers on a tight budget should consider buying a higher-welfare fresh chicken as this could be cooked and made into four separate meals.

Tesco said the move brought the proportion of higher-welfare chicken sold in the retailer to about 30% of total chicken sales, up 70% compared with the amount stocked a year ago.

A representative for the retailer said that Tesco had been working hard to increase the amount of higher-welfare chicken it sold in the light of intensive media publicity over UK poultry production generated by the Big Food Fight television programmes fronted by Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

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