Washing Chicken in Chlorine Solution
This is an American practice which is banned in the EU and hence the UK. There has been repeated condemnation by people opposing Brexit seeking to discredit a possible UK/US trade deal. I do not claim expertise in US food production techniques, but wonder how much is genuine concern for food standards and how much is anti Brexit rhetoric.
For a politically neutral viewpoint, I turned to Compassion in World Farming and a relevant article by them can be found by clicking on https://www.ciwf.org.uk/media/press-releases/2020/06/uk-retailers-must-decide-whether-they-will-protect-consumers-from-a-host-of-potential-threats-to-uk-food-standards-in-trade-deals-with-the-usa . They list six concerns about a trade deal with the US. The fourth is “the import of chicken washed in chlorine ... used to mask dirty conditions in production, slaughter and processing ...”. Please note that there is no criticism of the chlorine washing itself, only of the conditions of food production etc.
In the UK (and EU), some of our vegetables are pre-washed in the self same chlorine solution. You can identify them by the words “pre-washed” and there being a “use by” date instead of a “best before” date. If the process was harmful, food producers would not be allowed to use it. However, if you disagree with this and my interpretation of Compassion in World Farming’s article, you should stop buying pre-washed vegetables immediately.
I would welcome an American response to this post. Are your food production, slaughter and processing methods satisfactory? If not, does chlorine washing overcome the problem? Do you agree that there is nothing wrong with chlorine washing in itself?
(30/10/2020)