@dookie Said
Latest "space" to watch:- many of the large UK Supermarkets pledging never to stock US meat, as not complying with current UK/EU hygiene standards. The truth of this revolves around the Factory Farming techniques still prevalent in the USA rather than actual food safety. The problem appears to be that US meat could well, without tariffs, prove cheaper than UK produced - this simply because such factory farming methods have slowly been eliminated in the UK because of public concern for animal welfare. Would this eventually lead to a reverse in the UK's move toward greater commitment towards more humane treatment of animals?
The "chlorinated" mantra is largely a red herring in this context.
Me, yes I do like buying, for instance, organic eggs. Chickens roam free. They do not exist in cages, virtually unable to move, never knowing natural daylight.
This has long been a bone of contention for the entire Green movement (Green Party member here). We (that is, my family and I) too enjoy organically grown and produced food as much as possible. We are fortunate that we live in a county where good, fresh, farm produced food is available. The rest of Britain is not so fortunate in that regard.
We have been told that the change of regulations that are being proposed will not only denigrate food standards in UK in order to allow cheap, sub-standard foods from the US and other places to flood our markets, but that it will not be a requirement for any product to display its country of origin. The motive behind this is clear. It's to prevent food recognised as coming from these places being boycotted either as a political act, or simply out of not wanting to put it in front of your children.
The Chlorinated issue is much deeper than the fact that chlorine is used at all, but that's another discussion.
I - and others in the UK Green movement - are lobbying food producers, primarily in UK to prominently label their products as being produced here with labels that will state they are produced to EU standards. We are also making contacts with Brussels, and government food production departments inside the EU 27 to label products that they produce for sale in the British market, with the Circle of Stars emblem to denote that they have been produced to EU standards.
If we can't stop the Americans from sending us their products in a manner that disguises their country of origin, we can at least make sure that products we know we cans trust ARE labelled.
We will then have the option of only buying those products we see as being of EU origin, or from another trusted source.
This may well increase the shopping bill of many families, but it will at least give those who can afford it the choice of making sure they put decent food in front of their families.
Taking this one step further, we can then highlight the plight of those who, because of poverty, are forced to feed their families with food that would not have been legal in this country before Brexit.
This last part is somewhat distasteful to me as it may appear to be exploiting poor people for political campaigning, but if I were living in poverty and having to live off a food bank, I'd WANT my plight to be highlighted.
We might not be able to stop this low-quality (in my opinion, inedible) food from coming here, but we can use the effect it has on the national diet as a stick to beat this appalling government with.