UK retailer Tesco, which has been under fire for selling standard poultry products, appears to be cracking under pressure as campaigners succeed to persuade 10 percent of the retailer's shareholders to support better standards for poultry farming.

Celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who has been running a high-profile media campaign against Tesco over the issue of standard chickens, managed to persuade 9.88 percent of shareholders to vote for a special resolution calling on Tesco to improve poultry standards.

The resolution failed but it succeeded in testing their mettle, according to Fearnley-Whittingstall after the meeting.

Tesco chairman David Reid hinted that the retail chain may be willing to take more action on the issue of poultry welfare.

"We look for future ways to develop the industry and our role in it," Reid said.