to think a US trade deal will lead to lower food standards - chlorinated chicken and all that

[orlantina]

So Trump has tweeted:

Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 6h6 hours ago
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Working on major Trade Deal with the United Kingdom. Could be very big & exciting. JOBS! The E.U. is very protectionist with the U.S. STOP!

Will we be getting chlorinated chicken?

www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jul/24/us-chlorinated-chicken-not-ruled-out-by-no-10-in-pursuit-of-trade-deals

Whilst I am pro EU (and I know that's not what the thread is about). I am open to the idea to a trade deal with the US but, and its a big but - the FOOD I am worried about, the food standards in the US are horrific compared to Europe. The chemicals, flavourings, colourings and so on and so on.

So to answer your question, I really hope we're not getting American produced meat.

I will be even happier I left the UK if this happens
Mind you, what with the costs of importing, restrictions on fresh food etc I'm not sure we'd import much raw meat. More likely dried/canned stuff I'd say.

Food standards are hugely different in the US and the UK. Eggs is probably the best example, American eggs (chemically treated to within an inch of their life, must be kept chilled) would be illegal in the EU including UK. British eggs (from chickens vaccinated against salmonella but the eggs themselves not chemically treated, might have bits of feather on, best kept at ambient temperature) would be illegal in the US.

Why the duck would anyone chlorinate chicken?

If any of you have baby formula on the bench, check the first ingredient for me please

In the US it's commonly corn syrup. Was recently in NZ and the first ingredient is milk solids. The US is a fucked up country for sure.

If something is illegal in the UK because of food standards, it would be disappointing if we sacrificed these standards for a deal.

La sourciere, the U.S. recently signed a food deal with China to import millions of Chinese chickens , I imagine that Chinese food standards are a huge tad worse than US food standards so US consumers might be really keen on hanging on to their salmonella loaded chlorinated chickens. I never understand how people in the states are happy to eat beef or drink milk, their poor animals are pumped with hormones and antibiotics ( the ones that aren't on their last legs with undiagnosed mad cow disease that is)

This has been a big topic in Germany for quite a while. (Well, among those interested in politics, at least)

Germans are very, very, very opposed to it, not only because of the bonkers US food standards, (the chlorinated chicken is frequently quoted) but also because part of the suggested agreement was that companies would actually get to sue governments if those governments made laws that result in a loss of profit. Something that would naturally ensue if governments attempted to protect citizens from unsafe foods.

Completely batshit insane.

Your best bet is probably to demand that Americans be allowed to buy raw milk cheese (do you have that in the UK?) and untreated eggs.
That'll scare them away.

(Not up to date about the whole thing, but I think Trump may have actually cancelled the proposed deal with the EU. Not sure if he was frightened of the raw milk cheese or whether it was something else)

@HerRoyalNotness: Wow, I knew they put high fructose corn syrup in everything, but BABY formula? Wow, just wow. I guess in the US, breastfeeding really prevents obesity, if THAT is the alternative ...
(They really want to export their obesity epidemic, don't they?)

It's not illegal to vaccinate American hens against salmonella .

I'm American & we didn't usually refridge eggs when I was growing up. Or put butter away except in hot weather. The thing is, most of USA is hotter than Britain. You'd be in habit of refridgerating all your food, too, if you saw 30 degrees as a "cool" day in the long summer, and you had a traditional house with no A/C.

I agree American food standards are lower, in general. I don't look forward to a free trade agreement with USA on that basis.

American chicken has a 2% chance of having salmonella whereas EU chicken has a 20% chance..... hmmmm

The egg thing is cultural. I'm German and my family has always put eggs in the fridge. Met lots of people here in Germany who don't do it.

But I expect that the trade agreement the US proposes with the UK will also contain insane demands (like companies getting to sue the government for protecting its citizens), so would be against it on that basis alone, never mind the chlorinated chicken.

American chicken has a 2% chance of having salmonella whereas EU chicken has a 20% chance..... hmmmm

Source?

you do know growing organic food is illigeal in some states in the USA a small holder had his entire crop siezed and destoryed becuase he refused to ether use GM or numerous pesticides

Not only are food standards lower, they approve GM, and animal welfare standards are lower then the UK.

their animal welfare standards are so low they shouldnt even be called standards.

Best example is pig super farms, pigs are kept in cages so small they cannot move or turn around all the can do is stand up and lay down.

According to George Monbiot, rates of salmonella are much higher in the US:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/25/chlorinated-chicken-trade-britain-us-food-standards-globalisation

The article also explains why the Americans chlorinate chicken - it's go cover up the fact that they haven't been reared in hygienic conditions while alive.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/17/uk-has-nearly-800-livestock-mega-farms-investigation-reveals

American farming practices are already increasing in the UK. EU standards don't prevent them. Intensive pig farming is already huge in the EU. The biggest source of pork in NZ, where I live, is Spain. Most pork is imported, and most of the imports come from the EU. That's partly because of the EU's agricultural subsidies undercutting local farmers, but also because EU welfare standards actually aren't very high. I only eat local free range as the quality is better, but it means I pay the equivalent of £11 per kg rather than £4 or £5.

'American chicken has a 2% chance of having salmonella whereas EU chicken has a 20% chance..... hmmmm'

There are on average 142,000 cases of salmonella in the US per year caused by eating contaminated eggs. In 2009 there were 581 cases of salmonella in the UK. Even allowing for the difference in population size that's a huge difference. I know which eggs I'd rather eat.

Hint: Not the American ones.

www.forbes.com/sites/nadiaarumugam/2012/10/25/why-american-eggs-would-be-illegal-in-a-british-supermarket-and-vice-versa/#5b80bf4d4050

I could genuinely cry over this. WTF are we doing? Shipping/flying shit food from the other side of the world!? Why?! We produce good food in this country. We have neighbours who produce good food. This is fucking horrendous.

How can we stop this?

i love america, spent a lot of time there, but the foods standards are bloody shocking. corn syrup hidden in everything, real lack of transparency on labelling, and the farming industry is an absolute disgrace.

the other problem is that we wiould have to keep our standards the same, in order to trade with the EU and meet their standards, so effectively we would be (a) flooding our market with cheap US products our farmers cant compete with (food security anyone???) and (b) risk the EU rejecting our products on the basis of them being composed partly of US ingredients that don't meet EU standards.

Brexiters like Liam Fox are so desperate for trade deals that they'll agree to anything.

'Chlorinated chicken?

'Oh yes please. Sounds delightful. Thank you so much America'

Since we moved to the USA I feel that we are able to eat so much better.

We lived in the US for a short while. If we get chlorinated meats over here like they have, then I'm going vegetarian. The meat there is beyond disgusting, all dry and stringy, we had to get organic every time which wasn't cheap!