Remember the days when you made choices in the supermarket based on price alone? Ah, life was simple then. Four chicken breasts for £1.50? I'll have two packs. Twelve eggs for £1.50? Pop 'em in the trolley. How things have changed.

Last week, in the Co-op, I was stupefied by the trout and salmon. Should I pick the posh-looking trout in recyclable cardboard packaging? Perhaps this Freedom salmon would be better, though it does contain a lot of salt. Then there was the peppered mackerel: it wasn't farmed but was it sustainable? Freedom, farm fresh, cage-free, sustainable: what does it all mean, and can you rely on the packaging to tell you everything you need to know?

No, you can't. For instance, you can't always tell in supermarkets how the ordinary fish and meat have been produced. Fortunately, the livestock welfare organisation Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) has produced a handy wallet guide to help consumers see beyond the labelling.

Its Compassionate Shopping Guide is based on the latest of its two-yearly surveys of British supermarkets and rates the eight major players against one another as well as breaking down their performance in eight different areas: eggs, chicken, turkey and duck, pigs, beef and lamb, dairy and veal, farmed fish and transport and slaughter.

Star ratings out of five are given for each.

Marks & Spencer comes out on top, closely followed by Waitrose - they're both praised for putting animal welfare at the heart of their business. Asda and Somerfield are at the bottom, with Tesco in fifth and Morrisons in sixth places respectively.

The guide, available free from CIWF, offers a few general rules to help the supermarket shopper concerned about animal welfare.

Eggs: buy organic or free-range, ideally with tree cover for the hens (such as Sainsbury's Woodland eggs). Otherwise buy barn eggs, where the hens are indoors but not in cages.

Chicken: buy organic or free-range if possible.

If buying indoor birds, go for "higher welfare" (better environment, more time to grow). Examples include RSPCA Freedom Food or Tesco Willow Farm.

Dairy and veal: buy British and organic - British welfare standards for veal are higher than continental ones and organic cows have pasture and longer with their calves.

Pork and bacon: buy outdoor-bred (no sow stalls or farrowing crates) and, ideally, outdoor-reared.

Beef and lamb: look for "organic", "grass-fed" or "access to pasture" on the label.

Fish: buy only from sustainable stocks. Look for the Marine Stewardship Council logo or, for farmed fish, Soil Association or Freedom Food logos.

Complicated? A bit, but it's great to have the choice.

  • Call 01483 521 953 to have copies of the handy credit card-sized pocket guide sent to you, or download it from www.ciwf.org.uk/join/shopping-guide