Sainsbury's Tags Chickens To Thwart Shoplifters

Fri, 11 Jul 2008

Sainsbury's is attaching electronic security tags to its range of frozen chickens to prevent them being stolen.

The security device has been placed on both value and top-of-the-range organic birds, priced at £2 and £8 respectively.

The retailer is believed to have introduced the measure at its Hampden Park store, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, after recording a rise in the theft of chickens following soaring food prices.

Thieves attempting to sneak the frozen chickens out of the store will trigger an alarm as they leave. The metal security tags are deactivated at the checkout.

A Sainsburys spokesman said security tags had been in use for a year to prevent theft of higher-value goods across the store such as alcohol and clothing .

Rival supermarket Tesco said it was not aware of any problem with chicken theft in its outlets.

Supermarkets reported an increase in the sale of higher-welfare, organic and free-range chickens following a campaign by chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver in January which highlighted the plight of intensively-farmed birds .