CSR in the Chicken Coop

Tesco’s shareholders recently voted not to raise the minimum standards for the chickens it purchases from farms to sell at its stores, even after a high-profile campaign by celebrity chef and Tesco shareholder Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in which he said chicken were living in appalling conditions in some farms. Fearnley-Whittingstall’s plan got less than 10% of votes-it would have needed 75% to pass.

It’s a classic dilemma-does Tesco raise the standards and then force higher prices on customers, or does it act in a way that could look irresponsible to an increasing number of aware people? Tesco seems to be somewhere in the middle-they say they are raising standards, but are doing so gradually to not shock the market.

That seems like a sensible decision to me. More and more consumers are becoming aware of issues like these-Tesco will have to continue down the path of greater transparency if they don’t want to end up with yolk on their face.