By FIONA MacRAE

Last updated at 22:42 03 December 2006

With its premium price tag, shoppers expect organic chicken to be both tastier and healthier than cheaper battery-farmed birds.

But organic poultry is actually less nutritious, contains more fat and tastes worse than its mass-produced equivalent, research has shown.

Tests on supermarket chicken breasts showed that organic versions contained lower levels of health-boosting omega 3 fatty acids than other varieties, including non-organic free-range

poultry.

The compounds, present in high levels in oily fish, are thought to be responsible for a host of health benefits, from combating heart disease to boosting intelligence.

Organic chicken, which typically costs nearly three times as much as battery-farmed poultry, also contained lower levels of anti-oxidants – compounds which mop up harmful molecules called free radicals that have been linked to cancer, heart disease and strokes.

If that wasn’t enough, the chicken – from birds which are raised as naturally as possible and are given antibiotics only when they are actually ill – contained up to twice as much cholesterol.

Organic chicken even fared poorly in blind taste tests, gaining the lowest marks for succulence.

Researcher Dr Alistair Paterson, of Strathclyde University, told the Sunday Times: ‘It is safe to say that you are not getting any nutritional benefit from buying organic chicken.

‘You could be better off buying conventional

chicken.

‘There is no guarantee that organic chicken gives you more omega 3, better taste or lower cholesterol level.’

The findings come as organic food market is booming, fuelled by a rise in ethical shopping.

Last year it was worth £1.6 billion, dounle the amount in 2000. Sales are forceast to be worth £2.7billion by 2010.

An organic chicken costs about £12 in a supermarket, almost three times the price of a more conventionally reared bird.

The latest study, published in the

International Journal of Food Sciences

and Nutrition, is not the first to question

the health benefits of eating organic. Earlier this year, food watchdog the Food Standards Agency said that organic milk was no healthier than the traditionally produced variety.

Dr Paterson, a food technologist, said the

difference in nutritional quality could partly be explained by the way the birds are fed.

Synthetic vitamin supplements, which are routinely added to conventionalfeed, are banned under organic farming rules, as is feed with GM

additives.

The rules also impose strict standards on the use of pesticides and animal welfare and sustainability. While all organic chickens are free range not all free-range chickens are

organic.

The Soil Association, which accredits organic poultry producers, disputed the Strathclyde University team’s findings yesterday.

Spokesman Hugh Raven said: ‘This research contradicts the bulk of evidence which shows organic food is higher in omega 3, vitamins and minerals than conventional chicken.’