Government insists it 'will not compromise' on food standards

08 June 2020 by
Government insists it 'will not compromise' on food standards

The government has insisted it "will not compromise on our standards" following reports it was considering allowing chlorinated chicken and hormone-fed beef to be imported from the US to secure a trade deal.

As part of trade negotiations with the US, a proposal was understood to have been put forward that would allow foods produced using techniques banned in Britain to be imported, but subjected to higher tariffs.

Responding to the reports Liz Truss, secretary of state for international trade, and George Eustice, environment secretary, co-signed a letter, which insisted: "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 EU food safety provisions, including existing import requirements on to the UK statute book."

The provisions that will be transferred include bans on the use of artificial growth hormones and the use of anything other than potable water to decontaminate poultry carcasses; the letter continues to say that any changes to this legislation would need to be bought before government.

Washing chicken in chlorine to remove bacteria is banned across the European Union, due to concerns that such measures could be used to compensate for poor hygiene and welfare standards at other stages of production.

Picture: Shutterstock

The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media Group is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking