Is Boris Johnson About To Ditch EU Food Standards To Achieve US Trade Deal?

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  • https://www.businessinsider.com/boris-johnson-…020-2?r=US&IR=T

    Boris Johnson has given a clear indication that he plans to ditch the current standards of food hygiene and safety in order to further his chances of getting a trade deal with the USA.

    I rather like the fact that, at present, I can put good, safe and hygienic food on the table for my family. I'm grateful that we as a country can afford to be choosy about what we eat.

    I was warning, almost from the very first day of the post Brexit vote that we will fall into the hands of the USA with its much lower food standards that have been the reason why washing food in Chlorine Dioxide is necessary. The Chlorine itself isn't lethal (although it's certainly undesirable), it is the fact that using it has encouraged American food producers to flout safety procedures for the sake of increased production.

    Example, in UK the maximum amount of time live birds can be transported is 12 hours. In the US its's 28 hours and if maltreating animals in this way isn't repugnant enough, it makes the chickens more susceptible to infection that the Chlorine can't wash away.

    University of Southampton produced a report in 2018 that proved chlorine wash was not totally effective in destroying pathogens and worse still, might make some pathogens undetectable.

    American food suppliers deny that their methods are ineffective and some even claim that they are more effective than in Europe. But it is a fact that in the USA there are around 37 million cases of foodborne illness every year which is about an 11.4 in 100 chance of getting food poisoning. In Europe the rate is around 1.5 in 100.

    Kath Delmeny of the Food and Farming Alliance "Sustain" says that food standards in UK will suffer if trade deals with USA are floated.

    In the No Deal arrangement that I believe is Boris Johnson's real aim in negotiations with the EU we will certainly have to pay more for food imported from Europe, this will drive people on low incomes to buy poor quality, chlorine washed and very possibly contaminated food imported from USA. He has staked everything on trading with America since day one.

    As much as I would wish nobody to suffer as a result of this, there is a part of me that says people who voted for Brexit deserve all they get, but those who wanted nothing to do with it are going to suffer for one man's vanity project (and one that will probably make him personally a lot richer).

    I will pay whatever it costs to make sure I put decent food on the table for my family. We are one family that won't be joining the rush to the stomach pump.

  • There is nothing in this article to justify the comment that Boris Johnson is going to lower food standards. It is all conjecture and speculation. I have only heard him say that he does not want to commit to EU standards because ours are higher. How does that suddenly morph into 'refusing to impose EU standards means a lowering of standards'?

    Parts of the media seem pretty adept these days of turning positive stories around so that they read negatively and completely distort the truth.

    An example Boris has already made relates to the cruel transportation of live animals through various countries in Europe, before arriving completely dehydrated and in poor condition before slaughter. I suppose that's OK in your book, because that's the EU and everything they do is so perfect. And then you go on to remark on the US transporting live birds as if it is the worse thing ever. Unbelievable!

    Let's get on thing straight. A trade deal is only agreed between two countries if it benefits them both to have one. If we want to set standards in return for importing those goods, that will be the condition under which they are accepted.

    Economies of scale is the explanation for cheaper US prices, and if that means cheaper food being made available in the UK, what's wrong with that? It will be appreciated by the poorer communities which the Left keeps trying to pretend they represent (while shafting them with higher prices, higher taxes, higher immigration, etc).

    In the end, if you have problems with buying any chicken from the US, then don't. You can buy salmonella-infested EU chicken if you like, no-one will be stopping you. Brexit does not mean we cannot import and export with them as we do now.

    Mind you, it is just possible that our new improved food standards might exclude some EU food due to its inferior quality products.

  • There is nothing in this article to justify the comment that Boris Johnson is going to lower food standards

    It's clear to me, but then I am not brainwashed into believing that anything Johnson says or does is manna from heaven and the EU is the work of the devil

  • It's clear to me, but then I am not brainwashed into believing that anything Johnson says or does is manna from heaven and the EU is the work of the devil

    How can it possibly be clear to you when he has never said he will lower standards? What he has said is that he will not accept EU standards because ours are better.

    As I said, a non-story, promulgated by people who like to spread fake news against the government.

  • How can it possibly be clear to you when he has never said he will lower standards? What he has said is that he will not accept EU standards because ours are better.

    As I said, a non-story, promulgated by people who like to spread fake news against the government.

    It's known as a deliberate leak to soften up the sheeple

  • You seem to be a very strange person... and where did sheep come into it? Do you come from Wales, by any chance??!?

    It was a lovely word dreamed up years ago on the old BBC Points of View board, it nicely sums up the flock that blindly follow something or someone

  • If chicken is cooked properly there isn't a problem, not sure what the fuss is about unless you under cook your food. US food is generally better than you can get in the UK, especially restaurant food. Even their McDonalds are better than ours. And they don't have the sugar Nazis spoiling everything .

    However...they also have a lot of incredibly overweight people who are truly enormous, but that is about education rather than the food itself. It's not like the whole USA are morbidly obese, I would say that overall they are fitter and leaner than us, but they have greater extremes - that's the USA for you.

    Furthermore, the foodborne illnesses rate you quote is down to how the food is cooked rather than the food itself, if food is handled correctly and cooked properly there isn't a problem. I assume the US food standards you fear are related to the way the food is prepared for sale and not the way it is cooked, because I will not be changing the way I roast a Chicken. So, I still see no real problem.

    Celebrate it, Anticipate it, Yesterday's faded, Nothing can change it, Life's what you make it

  • It's clear to me, but then I am not brainwashed into believing that anything Johnson says or does is manna from heaven and the EU is the work of the devil

    And you are not alone Bryan - we can all think critically.

    Celebrate it, Anticipate it, Yesterday's faded, Nothing can change it, Life's what you make it

  • It was a lovely word dreamed up years ago on the old BBC Points of View board, it nicely sums up the flock that blindly follow something or someone

    I believe it refers to remainers and the sort that the BBC consider to be their audience

    Celebrate it, Anticipate it, Yesterday's faded, Nothing can change it, Life's what you make it

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