why is it illegal to feed chickens food scraps?

As always with the law they cant condone this behaviour so they have to make a yay or nay decision with no middle ground however my way of interpreting these rules would be somewhere along the lines of...

If you have some veg on a plate that is left over from a roast dinner and the veg is covered in gravy or been on the plate next to meat then no dont feed it to the chicks and put it in the compost bin.
If you are preparing some veg for cooking and have been careful enough to use a seperate knife from the meat and a seperate chopping board then I personally cant see a problem with passing it onto the chicks.

In my personal opinion I think its very much a case of before its put on your plate or after. Before scraps are considered possibly less contaminated
After scraps would be considered contaminated

Also we store alot of our veg in a utility room so as its not a kitchen surely this would be considered not contaminated if I prepared it in the utility room?

As you can see people read between the lines with these kinda of laws so it is easier for DEFRA to put a blanket ban on feeding chicks scraps thus shrugging off responsibility of the matter but at the same time appearing to be responsible.

If you insist on feeding chicks kitchen scraps then make sure you have a sensible approach to hygene in your kitchen, seperate knives and chopping boards for meat and veg (this is a already known rule of thumb amoungst cooking novices). Clean your fridge regulary (once a fortnight or month keeps the dodgy smells at bay).

It must be noted I am not a spokesperson for DEFRA so the above is not a new ruling of any sort just my personal take on the matter.

Apart from the above I also give porridge to my chickens which I mix with water and blitz in the microwave, I even add a sprinkle of sugar.