@mrmhead Said
How are guys about labeling food?
Make sure the products are clearly labeled "Chlorinated Chicken" and let the market decide!
Besides, isn't your healthcare free over there?
Nothin' better than some good ol' cheap Yankee chicken nuggets!!
We do have food labelling, but mostly on identifying the salt content, saturated fats, energy values etc. Country of origin is not a required label and neither is the processing methods used.
The problem with this isn't just about whether or not chlorine wash is or isn't dangerous, it is important to our relationship with the EU.
Yep... there is a Brexit issue here.
This country desperately.... DESPERATELY needs some sort of trade agreement with the EU. A vast amount of our food produce is sold on the continent. Losing that would be disastrous to the economy.
Britain currently has very high food standards that are compatible with the EU market because, well, because we've been in the EU since 1973 and adopted their standards.
To take American food, Britain will have to dispose of many of the EU standards. Chlorine washed food, for example, is illegal in the EU. If Britain drops these standards to take it here, British producers will not be trusted on the continent and food exports to the continent could become subjected to intense testing before they could be approved, and if they fell short of European standards, would be rejected.
There would also be the probability of very high tariffs in order to pay for the inspections by EU inspectors. And they'd be tough inspections too. The EU doesn't want USA using Britain as a back door into the single market and even if that wasn't a factor, we haven't exactly made any friends on the continent over the way our government has handled Brexit, and the attitude of British Brexiters towards Europeans since the referendum.
We have become bloody horrible people and we've made a lot of enemies over there with our attitude.
So this situation goes beyond merely buying crap food or arguing over whether or not chlorine wash is bad for consumption. There is a knock-on effect and there will be no fooling or shmoozing the Europeans. They're not going to give an inch on this.