CHICKEN is incredibly good value for money thanks to the efficiency of the poultry industry. Last year the world produced about 90 million tonnes of broiler chicken meat, an increase of about one per cent on the previous year. Americans eat the greatest volume of chicken - 40kg a head a year - while global poultry production is forecast to overtake pork by 2020.

Within the UK, half of all meat eaten comes from poultry, and most of that - around 85 per cent - is made up of broiler chicken.

UK chicken meat production has risen strongly in recent years - up 17 per cent to 1.5m tonnes in the five years to 2016. About 20m broiler chicks are placed in rearing farms every week in the UK.

The industry's efficiency has seen poultry prices rise by an average of just 1.5 per cent a year - half the average of other foods. Over the last twenty five years or so, poultry prices have risen at the slowest rate of 35 different food categories, and have increased at only about half their average rate of around 70 per cent over the same period - since April 1993 by under half the retail price index.

Rates of inflation are even higher outside the food sector, to the extent that if food costs had risen in line with house prices since 1971 an average roast chicken would currently have a price tag of more than £50. However, the average price of a chicken purchased at a supermarket should be little more than £4, making it an affordable source of healthy meat for consumers.

The revolution in poultry production in the UK began back in the early 1950s. Until then, most chickens were bred and kept for egg production, not meat - chickens reared for meat were an expensive treat. Then in 1953, following the example of the Americans, the first UK "broiler shed" was built.

The new broiler farms adopted new feeding techniques and bred strains of chickens that converted feed into meat more efficiently and could be reared to slaughter weight in record time. There were no real broiler breeds in those days, people experimented with different breeds of poultry to see which would produce the most meat efficiently.

The new broiler farms of the 1950s and 1960s needed a reliable supply of chicks, so entrepreneurs set up specialist hatcheries to provide them.

The broilers produced by the growing poultry industry were sold by high-street butchers but, increasingly, supermarkets started selling frozen whole birds. For the first time, chicken was no longer a luxury and housewives could afford to purchase it regularly.

Throughout the 1960s, demand for chicken continued to grow and processors responded by innovating with products like skinless, boneless or bread-crumbed portions.

Poultry breeders have excelled themselves in developing strains of broilers that are super-efficient at growing lean meat. Over the last 40 years the age of slaughter has come down from nearly two months, to just over 5 weeks.

Nowadays there is a trend towards producing lighter birds, which is another reason for the shorter growing cycle and reducing Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) - the measure of how much feed is required to produce the meat.

Back in 1977 the average broiler was slaughtered at 54 days-old when it had reached a live-weight of about 2kg. This year the average broiler will be slaughtered at 37 days of age when it has grown to a live-weight of 2.18kg.

More impressively, birds produced back in 1977 had a FCR of 2.18 compared to this year's that have got that down to 1.64.

Such improvements in FCR are important when you remember that feed accounts for around 60 per cent of the cost of producing a broiler.

Poultry meat has always had a reputation for being a lean, healthy meat, but the industry has also had considerable success in reducing its dependency on antibiotics in recent years. The philosophy of modern broiler producers is not to use antibiotics as prophylactics, but rather to use them only when the birds' welfare is compromised and even then, only under veterinary supervision.

While pig breeders have also made great strides in producing new, efficient strains that can produce pork more cheaply, the same can't be aid for cattle and sheep producers who struggle to compete.

Fortunately, there remains a loyal band of consumers prepared to pay a premium for beef and lamb, but they are diminishing in the face of stiff competition from pork and broiler producers.

ENDS