Consumer group Which? has warned the government to not allow in chlorinated chicken and hormone-fed beef from the US
The government has been warned that a trade deal with the US could pose the greatest risk to UK food safety since the mad cow disease crisis that happened 20 years ago.
Consumer group Which? has written to Liz Truss, the UK’s International Trade Secretary, as a new round of negotiations, gets underway between officials from the US and the UK.
The letter, seen by Sky News, has raised concerns that the government has shifted its stance regarding food safety and animal welfare in order to strike a US trade deal.
Research by Which? has revealed that 72% of the British public do not want products such as hormone-fed beef and chlorine-washed chicken to be allowed to go on sale in the UK at all.
This comes after protests are still ongoing throughout the United States after George Floyd, an unarmed black man, died after a police officer was filmed kneeling on the man’s neck for almost nine minutes.
In his election manifesto, Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised that the UK would “not compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards”.
Recent efforts from members of parliament to insert a permanent ban on these products into legislation have failed, and some ministers are understood to be considering proposals to allow in some of these food imports that the Prime Minister had assured that nation would not be sold in the UK.
Sue Davies, head of consumer protection and food policy at Which?, said
“We’re very concerned that the government seems to be backtracking on its commitments”.
In a letter to Liz Truss, she wrote: “The UK should be proud of the strides we have made over the past two decades to ensure that wherever people buy and eat food it is underpinned by robust safety, quality and welfare standards.”
“Since the BSE crisis, the UK has led a food safety revolution that has given us an enviable system across the food chain.”
“This could all be at risk depending on the approach that the government takes when it begins a second round of trade talks with the US on Monday.”
Which? has urged the UK government to “leave the issue out of trade deals altogether”, but trade deals between Britain and the UK often prioritise giving farmers in the US access to new markets.
US ambassador Woody Johnson argued in a newspaper article in January that chlorine-washed chicken is safe and must “absolutely be included” in the discussions of a US/UK trade deal.
In order to prevent farmers in the UK from being undercut, one proposal that is under consideration is a “dual tariff” system, in which any imported meat from the US that has undergone these controversial treatments would be given a higher tariff.
Washing chicken carcasses in chlorine is done to eliminate infections, and hormones are given to animals to boost the yield of meat from these animals, but campaigners say these practices allow for lower animal welfare standards, as well as lower hygiene standards in the farming process.
This comes after a new survey has suggested that the trust and confidence of the UK Government’s response to the pandemic have declined in the past six weeks.
A government spokesperson said: “We remain firmly committed to upholding our high environmental, food safety and animal welfare standards outside the EU, and the EU Withdrawal Act will transfer all existing EU food safety provisions, including existing import requirements, on to the UK statute book.”
“These import standards include a ban on using artificial growth hormones in domestic and imported products and set out that no products, other than potable water, are approved to decontaminate poultry carcasses.”
“Any changes to existing food safety legislation would require new legislation to be brought before this parliament.”
