[FLT-bird]

I dunno if it’s fair to say the American processing of chicken and eggs violates British public opinion. It violates British food processing standards right now only because it violates EU standards.

Yes, Chickens in the US are chlorine washed to kill off potentially harmful bacteria. Did you know Fruit and Vegetables in the EU right now get the very same treatment during food processing? Doesn’t this “violate British public opinion”? It must not since that’s the way it’s currently done and I haven’t heard of any massive outcry against it in the UK. Seems like it violates an arbitrary standard set by some EU bureaucrat a whole lot more than it violates British public opinion.

So why was that the standard set by the EU? It wasn’t because it is unsafe....after all they do it for fruits and vegetables currently and this has been done in the US for decades with no adverse health effects. It was because some EU bureaucrat felt that if this very effective means were used on chickens, that might then lead to lax practices in raising the chickens since producers would know they could get away with lower hygienic standards because the chlorine wash would just kill off any bacteria the chickens might pick up as a result. In other words, the current EU standard is completely ARBITRARY.

Being able to get out from under the arbitrary dictates of faceless bureaucrats in Brussels was a prime motivator for UKIPers. Yes, some flexibility will be needed for the US and UK to strike a trade deal......but let’s not swallow the bullshit being put out by whiny Remainerd that in order to strike trade deals with other countries (the US in particular), the UK will be required to accept 3rd world standards that will endanger the health of the British population. That’s just a laughable canard.

[Cronos]

The American chicken and egg processing violates British food processing standards. the British public believes (whether or not it's true is a different question) that they do not want American processed chicken or egg -- Whether it is PR or not, they believe it and don't want chlorinated chicken -- and the reason is not the chlorine itself but because the public and authorities believe that it is compensating for poor hygiene standards - such as dirty or crowded abattoirs. The UK food authorities were at the forefront of this

perhaps its protectionism of British poultry producers who can't compete with Americans, who knows

[Winniesboy]

The case against chlorine-washed poultry has not been about any risks in that process itself, but that its use as a standard treatment masks, or potentially could mask, lax husbandry during the animal’s life. One of the main differences between practices in the UK (and in this instance the EU has followed the UK’s lead) and the US has been the regulated emphasis on the hygiene, health and welfare of farmed animals during their life. This in the belief that, quite apart from any ethical issues, the meat thus produced will be of better quality in every respect.