Erosion of Food Standards in this country

[Roussette]

Could I ask you all to think about signing this Petition?

www.countrysideonline.co.uk/back-british-farming/back-british-farming-our-latest-activity/food-standards-petition/

We are well on the way to accepting chlorinated chicken and hormone injected beef from the US. If you think you can avoid it in the supermarket... the US are stipulating that the country of origin will be removed from any labelling. So you just won't know where the chicken you are buying comes from.

If you also think you can avoid it by buying from ethical sources, yes of course, but think of a pie, or a sandwich or some other meal you eat out whereby you just do not know where the beef or chicken is from.

Boris and Michael Gove categorically stated they would not be importing chlorinated chicken or hormone beef. They have gone back on their word. And bear in mind, this is the thin end of the wedge.. there are 82 pesticides that the US use that are banned in the EU, these foodstuffs will follow no doubt.

The US has almost no regulations when it comes to food sanitation, their food poisoning rates are ten times what ours are (1 in 6 get food poisoning in US, we are 1 in 66)

Support our farmers!

Thanks in advance, I feel quite strongly about this

Anyone?!

No because it is an anti-Tory rant. They have not gone back on their word as no trade deal is signed yet.

Also factually inaccurate the USA has vast amounts of food hygiene legislation and in fact since 2011 the FDA has been specifically tasked to improve it.

This year further legislation The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was passed.

No - this is a National Farmers Union campaign. They want us all to buy only from them and to pay more for it. It is Trump-style protectionism.

Basically, it is a charter of food poverty that will hit the poorest hardest.

So you are happy with chlorinated chicken obviously.

I am not.

There is a double tariff for meat imports from US which the Govt plan to phase out slowly after a 10 year period.

It is not an anti Tory rant. It is wanting to keep the food standards we already have, and not to have them compromised.

Should we not support our Farmers then?

This isn’t supporting your local farmer by buying his stuff. This is anti-competitive measures against other poorer farmers in other countries.

It is a way of forcing us to buy British, driving the price of food up, and making life worse for the poorest in society.

Oh, and there is literally nothing stopping me from buying non-chlorinated chicken and there are no plans to change that.

You think 'Buy British' is wrong and bringing us poor food standard meat from the US is OK.....

I would rather good hygiene within the supply chain than blasting a chicken with a chemical wash just to have it cheaper (which it probably won't be anyway)
The US fill their food with an inordinate amount of chemicals and additives and use pesticides like they're going out of fashion.

I remember salmonella and BSE (bovine disease) ... do we want to go back to those days?
I want safe, wholesome nutritious food with good animal welfare. And for it to be affordable yes.

If the US weren't insisting on country of origin labelling being banned, it might be different. People would then have choice maybe.

Oh, and there is literally nothing stopping me from buying non-chlorinated chicken and there are no plans to change that

How will you know if labelling doesn't tell you the country of origin?

How will you know whether the chicken in your chicken and mayo sandwich is chlorinated?
And the Pie you buy... you won't know.

That is the condition that the US are stipulating. No labelling.

Nothing wrong with ‘buy British’, but there is everything wrong with protectionism.

I would rather good hygiene within the supply chain than blasting a chicken with a chemical wash just to have it cheaper (which it probably won't be anyway)

Good for you. So campaign for a label that will tell you what’s what.

Chlorinated chicken is an NFU cover story. If they cared about chicken standards they’d campaign for better labelling. That’s not what they care about - they care that produce mainly crops not meat will undercut them. And they don’t want that cos they want to keep food prices high.

So you buy your organic chicken. Great. But don’t stop poorer people having access to wider choices. And don’t be fooled by the NFU.

And allowing this meat in will create a two tier system.

If food produced to lower standards is allowed in, only the affluent will be able to buy the British grown, British standards food.

And that is why I support British farmers. It should all be to an acceptable food standard and be affordable.

Thin end of the wedge.

You make no sense. You don’t lower the price of British food by keeping other food out. You raise the price of British food by doing what your petition wants.

You literally want prices to rise and keep out the cheaper food. That will hit the poorest hardest.

I've signed. The erosion of food standards in a potential trade deal with the US is something some of us have been trying to highlight since the referendum. I think the NFU have jumped on the bandwagon for their own purposes but, even disregarding the food standards aspect, the decimation of British farming would be detrimental for the whole population, not just the farmers. A reasonable level of domestic production is essential for food security.

You make no sense either actually!

You want the country flooded with cheaper food and dodgy food standards. It will end up a two tier system which is not right.

I am not talking about food from the EU, because they have the strong food standards in place. I am talking about the US and their poor food standards.

This is what the petition is about..
'Before the UK begins to negotiate trade deals with countries around the world, I call on the UK Government to put into law rules that prevent food being imported to the UK which is produced in ways that would be illegal here'

That is not banning food from the EU, which your post has just said.

Also, I totally agree that food standards in the US are disgusting. The fact that the chicken needs to be washed in chlorine because of the unhygienic conditions it's raised in. That "superior" recipes have to specifically refer to "grass-fed beef" as cattle grazing on grass is not the norm there as it is here. And as for the additives and chemicals, we've done a great job in reducing those over the past couple of decades. It would be a bad thing for the health of the nation if we were to stop regulating them.

I saw a video on FB recently comparing the ingredients list of McDonalds in the USA compared to the UK. The US version was twice as long, filled out with all sorts of additives and considerably more calorific. Yes, as an individual I can choose not to eat there but when the country already has an obesity crisis we need to look at the bigger picture.

If you saw it on FB it must be true.

This is protectionism. And it makes the poor, poorer.

Don't agree for very many reasons.

Well, feel free to set them out and let’s see how they stand up.

But don’t kid yourself that the NFU is trying to restrict competition to British farmers - and that will hit the poorest.

*the NFU isnt

I have set them out. Read above.

I'm not making you sign the petition. It's all a matter of choice isn't it?

Just like we should have the choice not to buy meat from a supply chain with very poor food standards.

How many farmers voted for Brexit and for Tories?

I've also signed. We should do all we can to maintain the high standard of food in this country and our food security. Surprised you are getting so much grief!

Already signed. I believe it is important to support our farmers and continue to reject lower animal welfare standards of the USA.
Here’s a link to the previous thread (I hope) where people were more on your side op. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3921354-AIBU-to-be-angry-about-the-lowering-of-our-food-standards

I'll go and look Holly, thanks