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Originally Posted by Mr K
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You do realise the EU ban was because it is TOO GOOD at getting rid of any bugs.
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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.
But the EU believes that relying on a chlorine rinse at the end of the meat production process could be a way of compensating for poor hygiene standards - such as dirty or crowded abattoirs.
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After washing it would pass any hygiene tests. No doubt it was to impose on the rest of the EU, the more expensive abattoir standards of Germany.
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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.
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Lower levels sounds good, doesn't it?
The EU alternative is "washing" with air and water. Therefore the chlorinated wash is additional. It's ruled safe by the EU, so what exactly is their problem? Other than shutting out the US.
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But the practice has been banned in the EU since 1997, where only washing with cold air or water is allowed.
The EU argues that chlorine washes could increase the risk of bacterial-based diseases such as salmonella on the grounds that dirty abattoirs with sloppy standards would rely on it as a decontaminant rather than making sure their basic hygiene protocols were up to scratch.
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