The NFU has moved to reassure shoppers about welfare on British poultry farms as the sector comes under the television spotlight again.

Officials say as pursestrings tighten, consumers can be assured that whatever British chicken they buy it will be reared to world-leading welfare standards.

And they are releasing new footage, showing indoor reared birds, on the Great British Chicken website. The film features Norfolk farmer and NFU poultry board vice-chairman Nigel Joice, who keeps 800,000 broilers on his Norfolk farm, making it one of the country's largest indoor operations. He supplies five million birds a year, mostly to supermarkets.

The release comes as Dorset-based chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's new programme, Chickens, Hugh and Tesco Too, airs on Monday. It follows Hugh in the 12 months since his "Chicken Out" campaign which was aimed at improving the welfare of chickens. NFU poultry board chairman Charles Bourns, from Wotton-under-Edge, who converted to the RSPCA Freedom Foods label last year, took part in the programme.

But, he said, consumers still need choice to match a range of budgets, when buying both chicken and eggs.

"British chicken producers do a great job in providing consumers with the things they want to eat, affordable products reared to high standards of animal welfare whatever farming system is used," he said.

"This new film helps show the industry at work rearing chickens – and we will continue to work hard to meet consumer demands.

"I would always encourage people to buy the best welfare bird they can afford, and feel confident that buying British means their birds have been reared to stringent standards of animal welfare."

■ The Chicken, Hugh and Tesco Too programme is part of the Great British Food Fight series on Channel 4.