Fellow celebrity chef and campaigner Jamie Oliver will also receive an award for his influential chicken welfare campaigning at the RSPCA's AGM on Saturday, 28 June.

Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall has thanked the RSPCA for the award, but insisted that the campaign must continue.

At the beginning of the year, Oliver and Fearnley-Whittingstall launched campaigns to highlight the welfare problems associated with the standard production of about 855 million meat chickens reared in the UK each year.

The chefs' TV programmes, Jamie's Fowl Dinners and Hugh's Chicken Run, revealed the shocking conditions in which many 'standard' chickens are reared.

Since launching these campaigns, the chefs have worked tirelessly to urge consumers, producers and retailers to invest in birds that are raised to a higher welfare standard, such as the RSPCA-monitored Freedom Food scheme, free-range or organic.

"We are delighted to present both Hugh and Jamie with these awards in recognition of their valuable ongoing work in this area," said Dr Marc Cooper, RSPCA senior farm animal scientist.

"We look forward to carrying on our partnership with the chefs and hope that with their support, the revolution in raising chicken welfare standards throughout the UK will continue."