Open Cages UK has today responded to Lidl after it denied any involvement in an undercover report, which claimed to find "shocking and systemic animal cruelty" at a farm allegedly associated with them.

Lidl denied being involved in the 'exposé' uncovered by animal rights activists.

The budget supermarket was responding to a video posted on Twitter which showed deceased chickens littering a farm which supplies food manufacturing company 2 Sisters, and allegedly through them, Lidl.

The investigation also claimed to find: "severe injuries", "major welfare issues" and "birds routinely run over" on the farm. 

After Newsquest reached out to Lidl representatives, they flatly denied any wrongdoing and listed clearly what they believed to be the "facts".

Lidl's full statement can be read here.

Following this, Connor Jackson, CEO and Co-Founder of Open Cages UK published a statement to Newsquest in response: "I would like the opportunity to respond to some of Lidl's claims in your story with evidence to back up the authenticity of our footage.

"Lidl said: 'The farm depicted in the footage does not supply Lidl GB'

"This video illustrates full traceability between the farm and Lidl (this video is not for publication). As you can see, the farm manager names Lidl multiple times, and chicken from 2 Sisters was found on sale in Lidl stores all across the UK."

The aforementioned video is confidential at this current time as Open Cages UK wishes to protect the identities of the farm workers.

Mr Jackson continued: "On Lidl's own documents they clearly list Lidl 2 Sisters as a supplier, contrary to its claims that it isn't supplied by 2 sisters.

"At no point has Lidl denied that it was at once supplied by this farm, only that it is not now. Lidl refused to answer questions from the Daily Mirror about when this supply supposedly stopped.

"This is important because it seems likely that they cut ties with the farm as soon as they saw the footage and heard of the allegations in the past two weeks, so they could say they aren't supplied by the farm.

"Secondly, Lidl says 'The original media owner that was first approached with the story in the UK, which chose not to report on the claims, conceded that it could not guarantee the footage was an accurate and fair reflection of reality'.

"What Lidl hasn't mentioned is that the original media company that was approached with this footage was due to air a full report until 2 Sisters threatened them with legal action.

"That's the real reason it hasn't yet been reported on the footage: the chicken company bullied them into silence out of fear of being held accountable for the animal cruelty that has been exposed."