[nomadking]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

I watched a channel 4 documentary called the truth about chlorinated chicken the other day, the thing I took from it is if we let it in there is no way we couldn't drop our standards here to compete with them, the practices from handling the meat, to conditions in the factory for cleanliness and opportunities for cross contamination are not things we should tolerate here under any circumstances and that's without even mentioning how the staff are treated

The reason it was banned in the EU WASN'T because it wasn't safe, but because it WAS TOO safe. How is washing with JUST air and water, safer than washing with air AND water AND chlorinated wash? If a method is found that is even more effective than a chlorinated wash(M&S did trials using liquid air), then automatically the EU would ban it.

If the chicken plants in Poland had been allowed to use a chlorinated wash, then the food poisoning there might not have existed or been a lot less.
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It's not consuming chlorine itself that the EU is worried about - in fact in 2005 the European Food Safety Authority said that "exposure to chlorite residues arising from treated poultry carcasses would be of no safety concern". Chlorine-rinsed bagged salads are common in the UK and other countries in the EU.

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Chlorine does reduce the bacteria on chicken, although by how much is disputed - the World Health Organization has highlighted that studies on the effectiveness of chlorine treatment give mixed results.


A study from the University of Southampton last year found that chlorine could make food-borne pathogens undetectable, giving lower microbial counts in testing, but without actually killing them - so they might remain capable of causing disease.

Not all food poisoning is from meat, though - although poultry is the most common cause - and not all food poisoning is down to the production process. Some bacteria will generally be left on the skin of a chicken so the care with which it's handled and cooked at home are extremely important.

The real reason for the EU ban.

Washing chicken in chlorine and other disinfectants to remove harmful bacteria was a practice banned by the European Union (EU) in 1997 over food safety concerns. The ban has stopped virtually all imports of US chicken meat which is generally treated by this process.