Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
This is one of the more absurd excuses for protectionism dreamed up by the EU.
1) The fact is, chlorine-washed poultry has less than a tenth of the bacteria on its surface when it leaves the factory than when air and water treated. Chlorine-washed poultry is vastly safer to handle in a domestic kitchen than air and water treated poultry is.
The EU’s reasoning is that forcing poulterers to supply meat that is less safe than it could be, forces them to be more careful. That is about as logical as forcing auto manufacturers to stop fitting seat belts in the name of road safety.
I’m certain that they are well aware of this absurdity in Brussels, but they don’t care because it has nothing whatever to do with ensuring the safest possible chicken arrives in your kitchen. It is all about protecting European producers who don’t have the resources to invest in chlorine washing, allowing them to continue to supply chicken that is more expensive and less safe, without worrying about competition from cleaner, more efficient producers from outside the EU.
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1) Wrong
In 2014, an investigation by the respected independent US non-profit organisation, Consumer Reports, found that 97 per cent of 300 chicken breasts it tested from across America contained harmful bacteria including Salmonella, campylobacter and E.Coli.
A 2013 study by the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control - the US federal health protection agency - analysed outbreaks of foodborne illnesses between 1998 and 2008 and found that “more deaths were attributable to poultry than any other commodity”.
More than half of the samples in the Consumer Reports study contained faecal contaminants and a similar amount harboured at least one bacterium that was resistant to three or more commonly prescribed antibiotics.
A 2016 study by the UK’s Food Standards Agency found comparable levels of contamination in this country - half of chicken samples taken from retailers were infected with multi antibiotic-resistant campylobacter.
It's the same, without the addition of chlorine.
as part of the wider issue ;
Chlorine-washed chickens are symbolic of much wider concerns around animal welfare and environmental standards that could become a crucial negotiating point in any post-Brexit trade deal between the US and the UK. That trade deal itself is seen as of vital importance to the UK’s future outside the EU.
Other practices such as implanting cattle with man-made growth hormones and selling unlabelled genetically modified foods are also allowed in the US but banned in the UK. These problems are also likely to be on the agenda.