Time 2:30pm

Chair: Michael Wale, journalist

Panel: Henrietta Green, Foodloversbritain.com, Dr Leslie Lambert, Director of Policy, Compassion in World Farming, Graham Harvey, writer and journalist, Debbie Robinson, Director of Food Retail, The Co-Operative.

Does industrial, intensive animal production really represent acceptable animal welfare standards, and how much should we care?

In an attempt to increase the availability of cheap meat, producers have increasingly adopted the assembly line logic of mass production and economies of scale. This has resulted in for example, the £1.99 Tesco chicken earlier in 2008, and a significant increase in average meat consumption in most of the western world. But is this actually good for us and does it even reflect the true cost of production and therefore really represent value for money?

The chicken out Campaign highlighted (again) the unnatural conditions in which the majority of chickens sold in the UK are reared, but pigs too are on the front line of industrial animal production.

How do the welfare standards in the UK compare to the rest of Europe and the world? What implications does this have on our own farmers in the context of trade?

What are the health implications of industrially reared meat? Do traces of residual hormones and antibiotics represent any harmful health impact to those who eat it? How does meat quality and nutritional value compare with slow-grown traditional breeds and cattle and sheep that have been naturally grass-fed?

What are the environmental impacts of intensive animal production and what are the alternatives? Do we have enough available land to feed everybody through traditional animal production? Is it affordable to all? Do we need to consume as much meat as we do or should we be eating less but better?

All of these questions will be considered by our panel who will explore the importance of animal welfare in the context of continuing increase in demand from the developing world.