Major supermarkets stocking duck meat (May 2005)

Note: Cherry Valley, Manor Farm Ducklings and Green Label produce meat from Mallard-type ducks; Kerry Foods produce meat from Mallard-type and Muscovy-type (also known as Barbary) ducks

Also, many supermarkets source duck meat from more than one supplier.

Asda	A E Button & Sons (Kerry Foods)
Co-op	A E Button & Sons (Kerry Foods)
Farmfoods	Cherry Valley
Iceland	Manor Farm Ducklings and Green Label
Marks & Spencer	Manor Farm Ducklings
Morrisons	A E Button & Sons (Kerry Foods)
Safeway	A E Button & Sons (Kerry Foods)
Sainsbury's	A E Button & Sons (Kerry Foods) and Green Label
Somerfield	A E Button & Sons (Kerry Foods)
Tesco	A E Button & Sons (Kerry Foods)
Waitrose	A E Button & Sons (Kerry Foods) & Cherry Valley
Harrods	Sell free-range ducks (sourced from both the UK and France), was not willing to name supplier.

Viva!'s investigation:

Viva! filmed at two Manor Farm Ducklings units in 2003, 2004 and 2005 where ducks are reared for meat:

1) Cherry Dene Farm, Bergh Apton, Norfolk, UK - Manor Farm Ducklings

The footage of Mallard type ducks shows:

• A dead bird in the shed
• A shed full of thousands of ducklings with yellow down, about one week old
• A duckling lying disabled on its back, unable to right itself
• A duckling trapped behind machinery with a carcass
• Ducklings having difficulty walking and in evident distress

Five weeks later at Cherry Dene Farm, the ducks are about six and a half weeks old. Their yellow down has been replaced by white feathers, and their high pitch cheep has changed to a quack. These ducks would typically face slaughter in less than a week.

2) Firs Farm (D. Buck site), Hempnall, Norfolk, UK - Manor Farm Ducklings

The footage shows:

• Thousands of birds crammed into a shed
• Dead birds littered throughout the shed, some with evident signs of decomposition; those that were collected have been left piled up and not disposed of properly
• Ducks displaying abnormal behavior, such as 'head wobbling', and in evident distress
• Ducks dragging themselves along by their wings, unable to support their weight
• A duck with a open sore on its rump
• A duck unable to balance, which collapses on to the floor
• Empty packets of antibiotics left on the shed floor and not disposed of properly
• Many ducks with filthy feathers and scaly eyes

At this farm the ducks were forced to fight for every drop of water from the nipple drinkers - their only contact with water. The ducks needed to stretch to get at the drinkers, meaning that many lame and injured birds would have been unable to reach them. The floor was wet with slurry and had evidently not been covered with fresh straw for many days.

We filmed at this site over three nights and then returned there four months later, conditions had not improved.

Manor Farm Ducklings: The Company

Manor Farm Ducklings, who are based at Ickburgh near Thetford, in Norfolk, is a business that describes itself as 'one of Europe's largest producers of white Pekin ducklings' (8), and currently have a 25 per cent UK market share (16). They are also involved in geese rearing.

Manor Farm Ducklings has been in business for 50 years and currently employs over 150 people at its farms, processing plant and main office headquarters. They have an annual turnover in excess of £18 million (9). The company went into receivership in June 2004 following Viva!'s successful campaign (see Viva!'s Campaign), but was rescued from bankruptcy by 'new financial backing' (17).

The company supplies whole duck and duck portions to a number of the main supermarkets, recently Marks & Spencer and Iceland. They also supply NISA, Makro and Pennine Foods, as well as other domestic retailers via food processors. They began exporting in 1995 and now export over 20 per cent of their production abroad to countries such as to Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong and the Netherlands (10). General Manager Tony Helsby said: "The export market is becoming increasingly significant to our overall business and, because of our location in Norfolk, we are ideally positioned to take advantage of the opportunities overseas, particularly in Europe." (11) Managing Director John Woodhouse said in 2005: "MFD Foods is taking a fresh new look at the market for duck. We are supplying precisely what the retail and food service sectors demand, whether it's stripped or sliced duck for wraps for the 'light meal' market or 'ready-to-serve' whole duck or duck meals for the 'quick meal' market - it really is the definitive range." (17)

Manor Farm have begun rearing ducks to new weights of around 3.0kg to supposedly meet demand from the UK restaurant sector - particularly the Chinese market - for larger sized whole ducks and duckling portions.

While the standard weight of ducks sold in the UK supermarkets is currently 2.4kg, the intensively reared ducklings from Manor Farm Ducklings are grown to produce whole duck weights of between 3.6kg to 3.8kg in 49 days. Sales of 2.8kg, 3.0kg and 3.2kg weight ducks are reported to be increasing at the fastest rate (12).

The company claims to rear some of its ducklings outside, and has recently introduced its own brand 'Breckland Free Range Duckling'. However, the majority of its ducks are still reared in traditional intensive sheds. The company has its own farms, but it also sources from independent 'duck growers' which are 'subject to inspection and stringent controls'.

The millions of table ducklings reared each year at Manor Farm Ducklings are processed in the company's factory processing plant in Thetford.

Viva!'s campaign:

In 2004, Viva! won a major victory when Marks & Spencer announced they would clear their shelves of factory-farmed whole duck after we exposed the conditions at Manor Farm Ducklings.

Viva!'s investigation:

Viva! filmed at Kerry Foods units in 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005, where ducks are reared for meat:

A E Button & Sons, Ellingham site, Attleborough, Norfolk, UK - Kerry Foods

The footage shows:

• Several ducks lying, disabled, on their back, left to die
• Ducks crammed into a shed in their thousands
• A dead bird
• Ducks with filthy feathers
• A duck with a painfully damaged leg walking with great difficulty
• A duck dragging itself along the ground by its wings

Birds are denied all that is natural - no open space, no contact with mother; no natural food, no searching through vegetation, no flying, no pond or river, no dabbling, diving, playing - no sheer pleasure from being in water, no rain or wind; no freedom.

Kerry Foods: The Company

Kerry Foods is the consumer food division of the Kerry Group. The company started in Co. Kerry, Ireland 32 years ago and is now headquartered in Tralee, Ireland. The Group employs 20,000 people throughout its operations across Europe, North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific.

Kerry Foods supplies over 10,000 food and food ingredients products to customers in more than 140 countries worldwide. The Group has manufacturing facilities in 19 different countries and international sales offices in 20 countries.

Launched as a public company in 1986, Kerry Group plc has a current market capitalisation of O3.4billion. Its group turnover exceeds O4 billion.

Kerry Groups website boasts: 'In ingredient markets Kerry has grown to become one of the largest and most technologically advanced manufacturers of speciality ingredients in the world.'

Considering the terribly sad state of the birds in both turkey and duck units owned by Kerry Foods that Viva! has filmed, it is laughable that the Kerry Group further states it has 'a commitment to excellence and total quality' (18). And that 'a pre-requisite for the production of superior quality food and ingredients is the assurance of high quality raw materials produced from efficient, natural, 'environmentally friendly' farming systems' (18).

Currently the Kerry Foods division spans six categories: savoury, pig meat, dairy, poultry, home baking and convenience/snack products.

The Kerry Group has a history of acquiring other companies and assimilating them. In 1990 they took over AE Button & Sons, of Diss, Norfolk, who were already an established duck farming business, and continue to use this name on all own-label products. AE Button & Sons currently employs 481 people and in 2002 had an annual turnover in excess of £64 million. The company also has a subsidiary, Ark Foods Limited (Ark Foods Ltd, Hemingford Ho/Walcot Rd, Diss, IP22 4DH tel. 01379 87071), which is a poultry wholesaler.

In 1992 Kerry Foods also assimilated the Irish firm, Buxted Duckling.

'Free-range' and Barbary ducks

Whilst AE Button & Sons (Kerry Foods) continue to factory-farm millions of ducks every year they have also expanded into 'free-range' duck farming. Since the early 1990s they have supplied Waitrose with 'free-range' Pekin duckling. Waitrose claims that: "The ducks have unlimited daytime access to open pasture. Access may sometimes be limited if the birds' welfare is thought to be at risk, but only under harsh weather conditions and only then at the stockman's discretion." (20) Waitrose also claims that the ducks are stocked in the shed at Freedom Foods approved densities, with stocking density on the paddock of around 2.5kg/sqm. However, with a maximum flock size of just under 4000 birds this is still clearly intensive farming by anyone's standards.

In 2006, Waitrose became the first supermarket to introduce outside ponds for all of its own-label ducks, after a lengthy trial period. This is a major welfare improvement, and one which other supermarkets will find difficult to justify not following. Indeed, both M&S and Tesco have announced trials allowing their own-label ducks access to water for swimming - although, currently neither allow their ducks access to the outside. Whilst this move on behalf of Waitrose is encouraging, it is worth pointing out that their ducks have a 'brooding' period of three weeks before they are allowed access to swimming water (once their down has been replaced by feathers). As Waitrose currently slaughters their ducks at the industry standard seven weeks (49 days), they will only have access to swimming water for a month of their short lives.

Until January 2005 Waitrose also sold factory farmed Barbary ducks. These Barbary were are not 'free-range', and did not have access to the outside nor did they have access to water for swimming - in other words, they were factory-farmed. Most supermarkets stopped selling Barbary ducks in light of Viva!'s successful campaign to end the painful process of de-beaking, Waitrose, however, until recently continued. They claimed that: "[the Barbary ducks'] ... environment had been adapted to limit displays of aggressive behaviour" (20), and so made de-beaking 'unnecessary'. When further pressed on what this actually meant, Waitrose merely responded that "aggression is controlled by light" (21). Of course, it is difficult to ascertain exactly what they meant by this but it is common practice for some producers to keep poultry at very low light intensities to discourage activity and maximise growth rate. Research has shown that this results in inactivity, which causes increases in lameness and skin diseases and, at very low levels, the development of eye abnormalities.

Viva!'s campaign:

Viva! stopped Kerry Foods debeaking ducks in 2000 as part of its ongoing campaign against the factory farming of ducks. We filmed at a unit in Suffolk that showed filthy, injured, bleeding, dying ducks in a packed shed in 1999 (shown on GMTV). Hillside also filmed ducks at Grange Farm, Redgrave, UK in 2001 - again showing ducks that are blind, filthy, have diffulty walking (shown on Anglia TV). In 2005, Viva! supporters held demonstrations outside over 200 Co-op stores highlighting the conditions their undercover footage found.

Viva!'s investigation:Maple Lodge Farm, Witnesham, nr Tuddenham, Suffolk, UK - Green Label

The footage shows:

• Duckling lying, disabled, on her back
• Ducks crammed into a shed in their thousands
• A duck with an open wound on its wing
• Ducks with filthy feathers and crusty eyes
• A duck that is so heavy its legs are splayed apart, making it difficult to walk

Viva! has still photographs of bins full of dead ducklings outside Maple Lodge farm.

Green Label: The Company

Green Label is a family business with four partners, Maurice and Miriam Buchanan and their two sons, who began duck production in April 1989. All units are based in Suffolk, UK, and they currently employ 127 staff.

They previously farmed broiler chickens but now only intensively rear ducks (ironically 'Green Label' is supposed to imply the animals are kept in less intensive conditions).

In the last 10 years the Buchanans have invested over £3 million in their intensive duck business. They rear, kill and package ducks for Sainsbury's, Iceland and Booths, as well as UK hotels and restaurants. In 2004 they moved into producing a line of seven 'convenience' foods for Sainsbury's, under their 'Taste the Difference' range (19). Sales exceeded 1 million processed birds in 1996 (up from about 29,000 in 1989). The company currently kill around 2.5 million ducks a year (15).

The centre of the company's operations is at Loomswood Farm, on the former Debach Airfield, Suffolk where the ducks are slaughtered, processed and packed. Green Label is the sole UK producer of the Gressingham duck which is half Mallard and the Deben duck which is patented to the company, a 'development of the Gressingham and is quarter Mallard' (7).

The ducklings kept for meat are in sheds - thousands to a building. They are denied practically all that is natural - from contact with their mother; to water (other than for drinking) - no splashing, diving or dabbling for these birds. Green Label take this concept a step further, proud that they have added an enzyme into the feed with the aim of reducing the amount of water each duck needs to drink. This is to reduce water spillage which can cause ammonia emissions in intensive units (5).

Green Label Sites

Green Label have an elite breeding farm - here grandparent stock breed and their offspring go to parent stock farms. They have four parent (or breeding) stock farms where ducks produce eggs. The eggs are removed from the parent ducks and taken to a hatchery. Here, after 28 days, the ducklings hatch, and at one-day old are moved to rearing units to be fattened for meat with a high protein dry feed. As with all intensive units, the ducklings never see their parents.

Some of the existing Green Label sites in Suffolk are at:

• Maple Lodge (aka Maple Tree) Farm, Witnesham, nr Tuddenham - rearing unit for meat birds (120,000 sq ft site), hatchery and 63 acres of arable land
• Loomswood farm, Debach - rearing, slaughter and processing plant (the site is 300 acres, the farm takes up three acres)
• Hadleigh, under contract to Jeremy Thorby - breeding unit
• Gosbeck - rent a breeder site
• Northfield Farm (adjacent to Loomswood, Debach) - rearing ducks for meat (80,000 sq ft site)
• Akenham, nr Henley - rent breeding farm for egg production and rearing of pre-breeder ducklings
• Thorp Hall - 130 acres arable

Granted permission for sites in 1999 for:

• Elmswell, nr Stowmarket - rearing 9500 ducks for meat
• Hillbrow Farm, Clopton Rd, Tuddenham - rearing 46,500 ducks for meat in four buildings, each 102m x 24m and 6.75m high. (Max. of 11625 ducks per shed) (6).

Refused permission for site in 1999:

Viva! and local groups protested about the application for a duck farm at Thorp Hall, off the B1078 at Wickham Market. The proposal was refused permission on grounds that the buildings and use of site would intrude into the landscape and be detrimental to the 'visual amenity and quiet enjoyment of this attractive countryside environment' which is bounded by four public footpaths.

The Buchanans say their landmarks are:

1981 - purchase of 1130 acres at Thorp Hall, nr Wickham Market 1983 - additional 12,000 sq ft shed built 1984 - purchase of 120,000 sq ft of poultry housing and 63 acres arable land at Maple Tree Farm, Tuddenham 1986 - 80,000 sq ft site at Northfield Farm, next to Loomswood, and setting up of Maurice Buchanan Poultry Ltd 1987 - Loomswood Farm extended by further two sheds 1989 - Began duck production under Green Label Poultry name 1989-1996 - Processing plant built, given EU licence in 1991 1990 - Hatchery built at Maple Farm 1992 - Breeding flock at Hadleigh, under contract to Jeremy Thorby 1993 - New duck shed at Northfield Farm of 20,000 sq ft 1994 - Renting of breeding farm at Akenham, nr Henley, for egg production and rearing of pre-breeder ducklings 1996 - Two more 20,000 sq ft sheds added to Northfield Farm

They state that there is little waste with ducks and by-products include liver for pate and hearts and carcasses for pet food. Items for export include feet and tongues to China and gizzards to France.

Miriam Buchanan said to the East Anglian Daily Times: "When you go into a shed, they are all alert. Chickens will not react in the same way. The ducklings perk up and look at you, they are definitely more inquisitive. We like eating them as well." (7)

Cherry Valley

World Poultry magazine states that 'within two decades Cherry Valley has expanded from simple free-range duck production in Lincolnshire, East England to a world-wide breeding, feeding and processing giant'. It is now selling millions of birds a year (1), and has an annual turnover in excess of £39 million a year (14). Navis Capital Partners (Asia) Limited in Malaysia acquired Cherry Valley Farms Limited, the world's leading Pekin duck breeder, from The Nickerson Group Rothwell Limited in 2003. Navis also owns the controlling shares in the Bangkok Ranch Public Company Limited of Thailand (an integrated duck processor company). The combined company will be the biggest integrated duck producer outside China.

Cherry Valley rears, kills, processes and markets duck meat as fresh or frozen oven ready birds or in a range of duckling based foods; they also sell birds to other companies worldwide. Ducks from Cherry Valley reach 3.5kg liveweight in 49 days, when they are slaughtered. It claims a death rate of five per cent (3) and four per cent (1). At five per cent, this would mean that almost a million of the 18 million ducklings sold in the UK per year, die before they even reach seven weeks (see part seven).

The UK's sales are small compared to other countries'. It is reckoned that in China, 40 million table ducks per year come from Cherry Valley's breeding stock.

Cherry Valley's breeding department works on 13 pure lines of ducks; genetically manipulating them to, for example, 'improve feed conversion for more lean meat' so that different countries can be provided with ducks with different characteristics (1).

Richard Bird, director of Cherry Valley International Division, says: "The Cherry Valley duck is now sold and eaten in just about every country in the world...[we have] an efficient feed-converter...20 per cent of the eviscerated carcass is now breast." (1)

In a promotional booklet, Cherry Valley boast that they are the 'world's largest breeders and producers of ducks'.

The eggs are hatched in nine isolated breeding farms and then taken to the Cherry Valley hatchery near Rothwell, one of the biggest duck hatcheries in the world.

According to Cherry Valley literature: 'The eggs spend ten days in the incubators before being candled to identify and reject those that are infertile and so ensure efficient utilisation of the machines. Efficiency is the keynote of the whole hatching operation at Cherry Valley.

'The enormous investment in genetic and environmental research at Cherry Valley has involved more experiments during the past ten years than in the rest of the world put together and enabled the company to develop an enterprise which is both the biggest and most intensive of its kind anywhere..... Both breeding and fattening stock are housed in modern controlled environment buildings that allow production to continue efficiently throughout the year. An important economic advantage of the Cherry Valley system is the saving in labour requirement which enables as many as 85,000 birds to be looked after by only one person on some units.'

Cherry Valley boasts 'genetic ingenuity' - 'the direct result of a scientifically-designed genetic selection programme' which has meant 'the output of ducklings per female has been boosted by more than 100 per cent during the past five years, while the quantity of feed required to produce each day-old has been more than halved. Moreover, the Cherry Valley table duckling of today not only grows ten per cent more quickly than did its predecessor of a few years ago, but it also contains 25 per cent more breast meat' (2).

The company developed a duck labelled CV2000, and nicknamed it 'Superduck' because the female produces up to 275 eggs in a single cycle of 52 weeks. 'Egg size is exceptionally large and can average over 75 grams. The commercial female has a target weight at point of lay (20 weeks) of 1.75 kgs' (2).

The company has also developed the 'genetically improved' Super M3, which Cherry Valley boasts is 'the most efficient Pekin duck in the world'. Each female breeder is capable of producing over 241 commercial day-olds. These commercial ducks are genetically bred to grow fast - 3.5 kgs in 47 days, with little food - less than 2.28 kgs of feed per kg of liveweight. The company has even given this type of duck its own tagline: 'The SM3 quality and performance.'

The millions of table ducklings reared each year at Cherry Valley are processed in the company's factory. Purpose built in 1977, the factory 'efficiently prepares duckling for the table'.

'A fleet of refrigerated vehicles deliver the oven ducks to over 25,000 outlets including leading supermarket chains, freezer centres, butchers and caterers.' (2)

In addition to its UK-based operations, Cherry Valley sell Pekin duck breeding stock to China; have an office in Singapore to profit from the major duckling markets of the Far East, and in EU countries such as West Germany and Denmark, Cherry Valley has become a major brand in the duckling market (2).

Fat food

Like most meat-based 'fast food' it is not only a disaster for animals, but also for our health. Whilst many traditional Chinese meals are low in fat, the 'Crispy Duck' we are likely to be served in the UK is a bastardised version of the 'real' thing - concocted merely to appeal to the British palate (25). While in China duck is traditionally cooked by grilling and baking over charcoal, the common practice in British restaurants is to deep fry the duck meat (28), and, as it is usually served with its skin - often the fattiest part - intact, its calorie content skyrockets and cholesterol content goes through the roof (29). Crispy Chinese style duck contains around one-quarter fat by weight, with up to a third of that fat being the harmful, saturated kind (31) which raises blood cholesterol increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke. Incredibly, Chinese style duck has the same fat value (weight for weight) as a deep fried Mars Bar (35, 36)! And a typical serving of it can pack in as many as 400 calories in just two filled pancakes (27).

Mock duck - an alternative

But perhaps equally concerning is its high animal protein content. A wealth of research links animal protein to increased risk of osteoporosis, kidney damage, heart disease and increased production of a hormone called insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) - which is thought to boost the growth of cancer cells (33, 34). However, there is a much healthier alternative. Many Chinese supermarkets sell 'mock duck' (along with many other varieties of mock meats), which contains no animal protein, is much lower in fat, weight-for-weight (only 4.1g compared with the 24.2g typically found in crispy duck) - and is free of cholesterol. Mock duck is usually made from wheat gluten (called seitan in the States), which, whilst not suitable for people who are gluten intolerant, is a high-quality protein providing B vitamins and iron (37). It is believed to have originated from China and is also often used as part of the cuisines of other East and Southeast Asian nations, as it is a versatile and nutritious meat substitute. Also, many Chinese restaurants have good vegetarian menus offering healthier vegetable and pulse based options.