Chlorinated chicken import fears ‘not about safety’ claims Liam Fox as battle looms over US demands that the UK DROPS ‘barriers’ to low-quality food in a post-Brexit trade deal
- Minister said the chemically washed meat was an ‘animal welfare’ issue
- Came after US ambassador dismissed negative farming claims as ‘myths’
- Woody Johnson said they were concocted by people with ‘protectionist agenda’
- US wants ‘unwarranted barriers’ to food and drink imports removed
- The NFU raised concerns over food safety and animal welfare
Liam Fox today appeared to play down safety fears over American chlorinated chicken today, insisting that opposition is simply an ‘animal welfare’ issue.
The International Trade secretary spoke after the Trump administration’s post-Brexit trade deal demands sparked fears that the UK could be flooded with low-quality food imports.
The US wants ‘comprehensive market access’ for US agricultural products through the reduction or removal of tariffs and the elimination of ‘unwarranted barriers’ to food and drink imports according to a document released today.
Dr Fox told the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme that the UK would not accept anything ‘we believe are against the interests of our consumers or our producers’.
But he added: ‘You take the chlorine-washed chicken, a lot of our food is already chlorine-washed, the salads that we get.
‘The question is not about safety, the question is about the implications for animal welfare further down the track.’
Liam Fox said the UK would not accept anything ‘we believe are against the interests of our consumers or our producers’
The publication of negotiating objectives for a deal by the office of US trade representative Robert Lighthizer was welcomed by the Department for International Trade as a sign that Washington is keen to start talks soon after Brexit.
Liam Fox’s department said the UK would insist on maintaining ‘high standards for businesses, workers and consumers’ in any deal.
But the National Farmers’ Union has raised concerns over food safety and animal welfare standards.
It wants food imports to continue to meet the same standards as they do currently.
Securing a free trade deal with the United States is one of the UK’s top priorities after Brexit, but the administration of Donald Trump, who made a memorable visit to Britain last year (above), are demanding a high price to do business
‘It is imperative that any future trade deals, including a possible deal with the USA, do not allow the imports of food produced to lower standards than those required of British farmers,’ NFU president Minette Batters said on Friday.
‘British people value and demand the high standards of animal welfare, environmental protection and food safety that our own farmers adhere to.
‘These world-leading standards must not be sacrificed in the pursuit of reaching rushed trade deals.’
US companies have long complained that EU regulations limit American exports of food products such as chlorine-washed chicken, hormone-boosted beef and genetically modified crops.
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US ambassador Woody Johnson is one of a number of Trump officials to try to pressurise the UK into accepting imports of foods currently banned under EU law
Woody Johnson, the US ambassador to Britain, attacked warnings that a post-Brexit trade deal will see chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-pumped beef arrive on supermarket shelves, branding them ‘inflammatory and misleading’ smears.
In a strongly worded rebuke to critics of a proposed deal, he dismissed negative claims over agriculture as ‘myths’ concocted by ‘people with their own protectionist agenda’.
The billionaire diplomat, whose fortune derives from the Johnson & Johnson dynasty, said a transatlantic trade deal would provide a ‘great opportunity’ for both countries.
‘But the British public has been led to believe otherwise,’ he wrote in an article for the Daily Telegraph.
The document published by US trade representative Robert Lighthizer was welcomed by the Department for International Trade but attacked by the National Farmers Union
‘You have been presented with a false choice: either stick to EU directives, or find yourselves flooded with American food of the lowest quality. Inflammatory and misleading terms like ‘chlorinated chicken’ and ‘hormone beef’ are deployed to cast American farming in the worst possible light.
‘It is time the myths are called out for what they really are: a smear campaign from people with their own protectionist agenda.’
Mr Trump’s commerce secretary Wilbur Ross warned in 2017 that continued adherence to EU standards after Brexit could act as a ‘landmine’ to UK hopes of a free trade deal with the States.
But Jim Moseley, chief executive of the Red Tractor farm and food standards assurance scheme, said ‘the UK’s food standards are now under threat from the commercial appetites of the United States food lobby’.
‘British people deserve better than having their world-leading food standards sold out from underneath them,’ he added.
Donld Trump’s commerce secretary Wilbur Ross warned in 2017 that keeping EU food standards after Brexit could act as a ‘landmine’ to UK hopes of a free trade deal
Mr Lighthizer’s office stressed the importance of the 230 billion US dollar (£173 billion) UK/US trade relationship.
But it added: ‘Multiple tariff and non-tariff barriers have challenged US exporters in key sectors while the UK has been a member state of the EU and therefore a part of the common trade policy of the EU.
‘The UK’s decision to leave the EU creates a new opportunity to expand and deepen the US/UK trade relationship…
‘Our aim in negotiations with the UK is to address both tariff and non-tariff barriers and to achieve fairer and deeper trade in a manner consistent with the objectives that Congress has set out.’
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